Rents continue to rise across the UK
The latest data on rents being paid across the UK has delivered good news for landlords as rents have risen in all regions.
The findings from HomeLet highlight that the average rent is now £947 in the UK which is a rise of 0.9% on last year's figure.
When London rents are removed from the calculations, rents have increased by 1.3% year-on-year.
HomeLet says that the average rent being paid in London is now £1,632, which is up 1.4% year-on-year and up 1.1% between July and August.
However, the region with the largest year-on-year growth is for landlords in Scotland with a 5.6% rise.
All regions saw rent rises between July and August
While all regions saw rent rises between July and August, three regions have recorded year-on-year falls. They are the north east, the south west, Wales and the East of England.
HomeLet's chief executive, Martin Totty, said: "Our data shows the rental sector returning to its long-term trend of steady but below inflation price growth.
"In contrast to house prices, rents in the UK in August, grew by 1% compared with the month before and the same month in 2017."
The findings chime with a survey from Hamptons International, which found that rents across the country have risen by 2% year-on-year. They also found that tenants are increasingly looking to renew their tenancy contract rather than move.
Analyst Aneisha Beveridge at Hamptons said: "Moving is costly for the landlord and tenant and with uncertainty over landlord yields and tenant’s incomes, growing numbers of tenancies are being renewed."
She added that tenants are also facing affordability issues and less choice with falling numbers of rental homes available.
Scotland's tenants do not know how to reclaim a deposit
Meanwhile, research has revealed that 36% of tenants in Scotland have no idea of how they can reclaim their deposit from a landlord.
SafeDeposit Scotland says that 56% of tenants are also unaware they have the use of a free service for challenging any landlord deductions from their deposit.
The organisation runs the largest tenancy deposit scheme in Scotland and found 27% of tenants said they were unaware that landlords must lodge their deposit payments with an independent third party.
A spokesman for SafeDeposit Scotland said: "Our survey is the biggest ever done since tenancy deposit legislation was brought in and our figures show a considerable number of renters do not know what is in place to ensure their money is protected or that there is recourse should there be problems."
