The house and flat sharing site spareroom.co.uk carried out the survey to find out what landlords were planning to do rent-wise in 2014.
Their response was that four in 10, or 42%, of landlords were planning to increase rents with more than one in four of those, 26%, planning to raise their weekly rents by more than 3%.
Astonishingly, 5% of landlords told the survey that they were planning to decrease their rental demands in 2014.
With increasing demand for properties to rent, landlords are poised to take advantage and it looks like the trend for increasing rents will continue again.
The cost of sharing accommodation increases
The website also points out that rents for rooms in shared accommodation rose by 4.5% in the last quarter of 2013 to an average of £507 per month. A year ago a tenant was paying £485 to share a property.
It's not all bad news for tenants however, with the same research revealing that nearly 6 in 10 landlords, or 58%, said that they prefer to keep good and reliable tenants in their property and were not planning to increase their rents as a consequence.
A spokesman for SpareRoom said: “It is good news for tenants that the majority of landlords would prefer to keep good tenants rather than making a few hundred extra pounds in profit a year. Those landlords hiking rents by more than 3% are running the risk of tenants struggling to pay their rent on time or having to face void periods with no tenants all rental income.”
The website says tenants facing rent increases should check their contract carefully as those on fixed term tenancies will be protected from rent rises before their term ends. The contract should also detail when the rent can be increased by a landlord.
Meanwhile, landlords have also told another survey that they are more likely to face rent arrears in 2014.
Rent arrears continue to increase
Over the past six years, the number of tenants who fell behind with their rent has doubled and the number calling the Money Advice Charity for help has rocketed by 37% in two years.
In addition, the number of agents and landlords seeking vacant possession through the courts is also running at its highest since 2009.
Rent arrears, says Richard Francis who founded the online letting agent Makeurmove which carried out the survey, are now the fastest-growing debt problem in the country since rents are now at an all-time high.
He added: “To avoid arrears, it is vital that landlords screen their potential tenants because it is easier than trying to recover arrears. We found that non-payment, partial or late payment of rent is still the biggest worry for landlords.”
