There is no sign of rents having increased as a result of the tenancy fees ban, it has been claimed.
The Deposit Protection Service says that average rents reached £777 during the third quarter of last year, but then decreased marginally to £773 in the final quarter.
The DPS also says that the proportion of incomes that tenants now spend on renting has gone down.
It fell from 32.64% in 2016 to 30.64% last year.
The DPS says that renting affordability has increased, due to a 2.69% increase in average salary over the same period.
It also says that there has been a £77 decrease in average rent deposits, from £905 to £828, since the introduction of the deposit cap last June.
Matt Trevett, managing director of DPS, said: “Although rents have risen over the past decade, other changes since 2016 have helped ensure renting has become on average more affordable.
“Predictions that rents would rise in response to the introduction of the tenant fees ban and deposit cap do not seem to have materialised, with many landlords seemingly declining to increase rents since last summer.”
The DPS says that average rents rose by 20% between 2010 and 2019 but by only 1% between 2016 and 2019.
London continues to be the most expensive rental region in the UK, with average monthly rents standing at £1,345 in Q4 2019 – over two and a half times the amount (£518) paid in the UK’s cheapest region, the north-east, during the same period.
Excluding London, average monthly rent during the last quarter of 2019 stood at £672, says the DPS.
Its full report is here: https://depositprotection.com/media/1611/dps_rent_index_q4_2019.pdf
Meanwhile a separate report on renting from Zoopla draws similar conclusions, although citing slightly different figures.
Zoopla, like the DPS, also says rental affordability has improved with costs increasing below earnings growth.
However, it says average rents rose 2.6% last year, to average £886.
It puts the average proportion a tenant pays on rent at 31.8%, down from 33.3% in 2016.
Zoopla has also recorded a 4% drop in the supply of rental homes, coupled with an 8% rise in tenancy demand during the last year.
A video explaining the DPS figures is below:
Comments (12)
They’re up around £50 per month in my area. It was obviously going to be the case but the government think they know best.
At the coalface … rents have risen, demand far exceeds supply. Was this story supposed to be posted on 1st April?
leelee30 … you are not the only one to come up with the same observation, in the last 12 months we have only been contacted twice and this has been going on for decades!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absolute nonsense. There are numerous reports published on a almost weekly basis, the vast majority of which state rents are increasing !
Absolutely!. We don’t tell the DPS when we increase rents for existing tenants as the bond stays the save so surely they only have the actual figures for new tenants.
Ha – I don’t think the TDS are interpreting their data correctly in reflecting that back to the rest of the country. We for one we don’t list any rent on the TDS site. sure it gives you the option too but you don’t have to. Yes new lets are 5 weeks but we most certainly have been increasing all rents on renewals and re-lets.
The DPS will have a very limited view of rent increases, we now routinely review rents every 12 months and push for even small increases for our landlords. It’s existing tenants feeling the increases the most.
From what we see as a letting agent,
The amount of time spent on non paying tenants application is up, also we are finding that the tenants are putting in applications and then once passed they had declined the let, as found another one and moved in within 24 hours. ( up by 50%) in the last 8 months.
It is odd that we have only received one landord reference in the past 8 months asking us for our previous tenants information on our previous let.
Some agents must not be referencing at all…..mmmm
Rents have all increased via a handful of smaller lets by £25 pounds to £50 pounds… ( to cover the landlords costs )
Bonds decreased due to only 5 weeks rent allowed.
This means If a large amount of damage done by a tenant then the bond will not cover that. So small claims will have to take place.
Tenants demands have gone up and the amount which do not work are applying of properties which are 40% higher than the Pip allowance.
How can you let to a tenant no working which can not afford to live never mind pay the rent ..
Its an interesting read which does not follow the high st demand.
Seeing similar here in Christchurch, more time wasters and tyre kickers. The tenants that are feeling the effect of increased landlord costs are our existing tenants with annual rent increments averaging 3 – 4 %.
But surely taking the permitted 1 weeks rent holding deposit to secure the application is the best course of action, it gives a commitment from applicants to stop them throwing as many applications in as they can and then backing out of the ones they don’t want.
Correct. Makes you wonder who is doing what!
Perhaps demand is not up? EU nationals beginning to go home? Either the figures are wrong or landlords as a whole have become more generous. I know which option I would put my money on.
Interesting supply down demand up and lower rents in real terms. Seems like unusual economics to me.