Four in ten renters are “stuck” with landlords who refuse to repair their “problem-riddled” properties, it has been claimed.
The HomeOwners Alliance claims that four in ten renters live in cold and damp properties, while one in five worry that the property where they live does not meet fire or other safety standards.
One in ten renters claim to have been evicted without cause, and over a third (35%) claim they have experienced high up-front charges for references or inventory checks.
An additional 16% claim they have had unreasonable rent rises.
While most renters (77%) wanted to buy, most of those aspiring to own think they will never be able to afford it.
All the research for this year’s seventh home owner survey was done ahead of this month’s ban “on rip-off letting agent fees”.
The survey sample was just over 2,000 of whom 728 were tenants.
The HomeOwners Alliance, a third of which is owned by conveyancing business ULS Technology, said that there is a housing crisis.
However, it criticised both shared ownership schemes and Help to Buy – which it said helped developers “and not those struggling up the housing ladder”.
In research, renters said shared ownership was complex, involved leasehold charges, and made it difficult to own outright.
Renters broadly supported Help to Buy but there were criticisms that it increased house prices, with the gains going to developers, and that “dodgy companies like Persimmon have stolen money meant for first-time buyers and paid ridiculous amounts to their dodgy CEOs”.
Instead the Alliance forecast that build to rent will become the solution for renters.
Renters said they like it because it offers longer tenancies, with break clauses; certainty about rent; no up-front fees; and the ability to rent directly from a responsible company rather than from a landlord or agent.
The HomeOwners Alliance latest research was funded by BLP Insurance and Resi.co.uk, an architectural practice.
Comments (8)
We manage about 1500 properties and I geniunely have no landlords who “refuse to repair”. We have some who need a bit of persuasion to part with their cash at times, but they always do it.
Utter garbage.
You do have to despair about all these figures being trotted out left right and centre!
4 in 10 Landlords wont repair….utter rubbish!
16% claim unreasonable rent rises…this of course is in the tenant’s view….the reality in most cases would be that the Landlord is simply following market prices, most of our Landlords are perfectly reasonable and keep increases to a minimum (often they could justify higher rises) I’m not sure this will be the case for much longer!!
Finally were we not recently told by the Government/shelter recently that ‘no fault’ evictions were one of the main causes of homelessness?!….1 in 10 tenants would not be a figure that would suggest this is the case would it?!
Unfortunately the PRS is an easy target for vote seeking politicians, and out of touch ‘do-good’ organisations to keep hitting with a stick….this will continue until thousands of Landlords can’t take any more….then we will see what housing stock related problems that will cause!
Shelter’s website says Section 21 does not cause homelessness
https://www.property118.com/shelters-website-says-section-21-not-cause-homelessness/
Build to Rent the answer? Uh, with their much higher rents compared to the traditional PRS, I think not. Also, with their focus on posh flats in city centres.
What utter nonsense. More fake news.
Rather than comment here why not Google ‘Home Owners Alliance’, scroll down to HOA’s Voice on the home page and join me by leaving a comment on the actual article?
Figures are pure fabrication.. I manage 500 and haven’t got one landlord like this
Sorry but before anyone pays too much regard to anything Home owners alliance have to say they should review their archive and support for those who were going to blah, blah, blah, (insert aggressive rhetoric) to estate agents and the property industry.
Credibility comes from conviction and consistency of message not from flip flopping between messages every time popular opinion changes.
The slanderous attack on a company and executive who was paid according to a contract might just have landed this lot in the sort of trouble they deserve.