Tenants struggling to make rent, says ARLA

6 July 2009

ARLA polled 730 lettings agents as part of its survey of the private rented sector and found that 65% of its members have seen a rise in the number of tenants finding it difficult to make their rental payments over the last six months.

The trade body has also seen more tenants prepared to haggle with landlords over rent, with 93% of agents reporting this to be the case.

In central London, which has traditionally benefited from rental demand from international and finance sectors, the number of agents reporting tenants negotiating on rents has hit 98%.

Agents say this behaviour is partly driven by a need to cut costs, but also because some tenants are looking to take advantage of the downturn in rental prices.

Ian Potter, operations manager at ARLA, says: “There’s been a lot of talk about the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme of late but as far as I can see, tenants are being forgotten completely.

“That’s inexcusable in a climate such as this.

“Changes to support tenants faced with eviction due to landlords having property repossessed were introduced in April although no benefit is yet seen filtering through to the marketplace.”

Sam Younger, chief executive of Shelter, says: “As unemployment rises and the recession begins to bite, more and more people across the country are struggling with their housing costs.

“While we welcome the raft of initiatives the government has introduced to protect home owners in mortgage arrears, Shelter would like to see further attention given to supporting tenants who are finding it just as difficult to make ends meet.”

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