Landlords in England and Wales have revealed that the level of rent arrears is on the rise and currently stands at 9.1% - though this is still much lower than the record figure of 14.6% which was set in February 2010.
According to the figures from Your Move and Reeds Rains, this figure for March is up slightly from February's figure of 8.8%. However, when looked at annually, there has been a substantial increase in the number of tenants who are in arrears with this figure now standing at 7.4%.
A director of Your Move, Adrian Gill, said landlords are increasingly needing tenants who have good finances while tenants need to be renting a property they can afford. He added: “There's room for negotiations on rent with both tenants and landlords needing to reach a deal with each other and some of the confrontational language between some tenants and landlords is not constructive or healthy.”
Growing need for more rental supply
The report from the estate agent says there is a growing need for more rental supply so renting remains affordable and millions of people can still live in a high quality home. Mr Gill said: “This means the barriers to property investment should be lifted rather than adding penalties for those landlords who aspire to financial security.”
He pointed out that the growth in private renting has changed society with larger numbers of people renting but also with more people becoming landlords, and he urged regular communication between landlords and tenants to address concerns and avoid the potential of rent arrears developing.
Rents in Scotland see record fall
Meanwhile, a buy-to-let index for Scotland shows that March recorded the biggest monthly fall in rents on record.
The data from Your Move reveals that rents fell by 0.7% in March, the largest fall since the index started - it's also the first monthly drop since September 2015 when rents, on average, fell by 0.3%.
The only rent increases were seen by landlords with properties in Edinburgh and the Lothians where rents grew by 0.2% to reach a new monthly record of £645 per month.Average rent in Scotland
The average rent in Scotland is now £544 a month, which is a drop of £4 on February's figure.
Your Move Scotland's lettings director, Brian Moran, said: “Those who signed a tenancy in March will be feeling confident about snapping up a competitive deal but it's a rare break and unlikely to hang about for long as the rental market in Scotland gears up towards its autumnal peak.”
