Half Of Private Landlords Cut Rent In 2020

Almost half (46%) of landlords reduced monthly rent payments for their tenants because of the pandemic, according to research from Shawbrook Bank. In total, Shawbrook found that 28% of landlords gave their tenants a full rent payment holiday; a period of up to three months where tenants were not liable to pay any rent. Additionally, 18% offered a rent reduction; a period where tenants paid a lower level of rent as agreed with their landlord. Those landlords that gave their tenants a payment holiday estimated they lost £7,500 on average, while rent holidays cost landlords £6,500 on average. Read more on the Mortgage Introducer website.

https://www.mortgageintroducer.com/shawbrook-half-private-landlords-cut-rent-2020/ 

Private Rents Falling In Real Terms Says New Data

Rents paid by private tenants across the UK are falling in real terms according to official data. The figures from the Office for National Statistics show that private rents rose by 1.2% in the 12 months to June of this year. This increase remains well below all measurements of inflation with the smallest increase, CPI including housing costs, being 2.4 per cent. Private rents grew by 1.1 per cent in England. 1.5 per cent in Wales and 1.2 per cent in Scotland. Read more on the NRLA website.

https://www.nrla.org.uk/news/private-rents-falling-in-real-terms-says-new-data 

London Only Region To Report Drop In Rent Prices Over Last Five Years

The capital is the only region in the UK where rents have fallen over the last five years as Londoners have left the city during the pandemic and fewer young professionals have moved for work. Asking rents in almost two thirds – 65 per cent – of London neighbourhoods are lower than they were five years ago, compared to just four per cent across the rest of Britain. London is the only region where asking rents have fallen compared to 2016 levels, down 2.6 per cent. Read more on the City AM website.

London only UK region to report drop in rent prices over last five years - CityAM : CityAM

Residents Win 60% Rent Reduction In London Council Flats

 Hundreds of families in temporary accommodation in east London have had their rent reduced by about 60% following a four-year campaign against their corporate social landlord. The London borough of Newham announced this week that “following a series of management issues” 250 properties in the borough, which were leased out by the council to the property management company Mears, would be transferred back into council management. As well as charging social rent, the council will now respond to repair works needed in the homes, which have been used as temporary accommodation to house local homeless households. The residents said the exact rent reduction would depend on each property. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/14/it-hasnt-sank-in-residents-win-60-rent-reduction-in-london-council-flats

Private Landlords Are Willing To Take A Hit To Support Their Tenants

Research from the National Residential Landlords Association has revealed that private landlords in the UK have been fully prepared to take a temporary hit to rental income to support tenants struggling as a result of the ongoing crisis. The survey of over 4,500 landlords found that an overwhelming 90% of landlords who had received a request for support from a tenant had responded positively. This included offering tenants a rent reduction or deferral, a rent-free period, early release from a tenancy or a refund on service charges included in rents for homes of multiple occupation. Of all the landlords surveyed, 44% had received a request for help. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/new-data-reveals-that-private-landlords-are-willing-to-take-a-hit-to-support-their-tenants.html

Tenants Told To Use Lunch And Holiday Savings To Pay Full Rent

Tenants who asked their billionaire landlord for a rent reduction during the coronavirus pandemic were told to use the money they would have spent on lunches and holidays to pay the full amount due. More than 100 residents living in a block in Somerford Grove, east London, signed a letter asking for a 20% reduction in rent and an agreement that no tenant would be evicted during the pandemic. But the letting agent, Tower Quay properties, told them their request was “unreasonable” and “unrealistic”, adding that any drop in tenants’ income would be minimised by a reduction in spending on holidays, entertainment, travel, clothes and lunches. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/apr/21/tenants-told-to-use-lunch-and-holiday-savings-to-pay-full-rent

Private Rents Falling In Real Terms

New figures showing rents have dropped, when set against inflation, prove the market is working, says the RLA. Private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK rose by 1.3% in the 12 months to July 2019, unchanged since May 2019.Inflation over the same period was:

·         2% as measured by CPI(H) which includes owner occupiers’ housing costs.

·         2.1% as measured by CPI.

·         2.8% as measured by RPI.

This means a real term fall in private rents. More can be found in the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices.

https://www.housingnet.co.uk/pdf/Index_of_Private_Housing_Rental_Prices,_UK_July_2019_(1).pdf

UK Rents Fall For First Time In A Decade

Rents across Britain fell in 2018 for the first time in a decade, offering relief for tenants after years of inflation-busting rises. Figures from the Deposit Protection Scheme – a government-backed group that supervises tenancy deposits – showed the average rent fell by £9 (1.17%) from £774 in 2017 to £765. The typical UK tenant spent 31% of their income on rent in 2018, a fall of 0.5% from the year before, the DPS said. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/23/uk-rents-fall-for-first-time-in-a-decade

Letting Fee Ban ‘Will Not Cut The Cost Of Renting’

Government plans to ban letting agent fees paid by tenants are unlikely to make renting cheaper, as new research reveals the prospect of a ban is already being felt by the market. Among letting agents that responded to a survey by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA), over half, 57%, planned to cope with the proposed tenant fee ban by increasing the fees landlords pay. This raises the prospect of the extra costs being passed on to tenants in higher rents over the long-term. Read more on 24housing.

UK Rents Shrink Towards The End Of 2017

Rents across the UK began to shrink for the first time in over half a decade toward the end of 2017, falling by -0.01% in November, as a two-speed market emerged between London and much of the rest of the UK. The average rent paid for a UK property grew by 0.53% in 2017 (year to date), with falling rents in London (-0.83%) weighing down otherwise resilient rental growth elsewhere (1.27%). These are the findings from the second edition of the National Rent Review from buy-to-let lender Landbay which also reveals how much millennials can expect to spend on rent in their lifetime. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

UK Rents Fall Amid Property Glut In South-East England

Rents in Britain dropped in the final summer months for the first time in at least five years, according to Rightmove. National asking rents outside London fell by 0.2% in the three months to September, which is one of the busiest times of year for tenants looking for a new home. It was the first fall at this time of year since Rightmove started tracking rents in late 2011. The decline comes as landlords flood the south-east of England with newly available rental properties, distorting the national picture, as they turn away from a stuttering London property market. Read more on the Guardian website.

Government Announces Rent Settlement

The government has announced that social housing rents will rise by the consumer price index plus 1 per cent from 2020 to 2025. The confirmation is a return to the previous rent settlement which was meant to run from 2015 to 2025 but was replaced with the four year rent cut. Government said at the time of the rent cut that it would reinstate the CPI+1% formula after 2020, but there have been fears of a further reduction or change to the agreement.  Read more on the Social Housing website.

Rents Continue To Fall

·         Rents in the UK fell by 0.3% in June compared to the same month a year ago, the second month in row in which rents fell; the average monthly rent now stands at £908

·         Rents in London fell by 2.6% in June this year compared to June 2016; the average monthly rent in the capital now stands at £1,524

·         HomeLet’s June Rental Index reveals that rents fell in five of the 12 UK regions covered in the research

Read more on the Homelet website.

UK Rents Fall For The First Time In Eight Years

UK rental price inflation fell for the first time in almost eight years in May, new data from HomeLet reveals. The average rent on a new tenancy commencing in May was £901, 0.3% lower than in the same month of 2016. New tenancies on rents in London were 3% lower than this time last year. May’s decrease in average rental values marks a significant moment for the rented property sector. This is the first time since December 2009 the HomeLet Rental Index has reported a fall in rents on an annualised basis. The pace of rental price inflation across the UK has been slowing in recent months, having peaked at 4.7% last summer. Read more on the HomeLet website.

London Rents Keep Falling On Election Jitters

Rents in London have dropped for a fifth successive month amid political uncertainty, according to a new report from lettings agency Your Move. The average property in London was let for £1273 in April, a 0.3% drop from a month earlier and 1.8% down from April 2016. uncertainty caused by Brexit and the snap election had forced the property market here “to take a pause for breath”. The upcoming election was also blamed for a slowdown in UK housebuying demand. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

London Rents Fall For First Time Since 2009

Rents have fallen year on year in London for the first time since 2009 and are flat in much of the rest of the country in fresh evidence of the post-Brexit vote slowdown in the property market. The UK’s biggest tenant referencing company, Homelet, said rents on new tenancies in London fell by 1.2% in April compared with the same month a year ago, the first annualised fall in eight years. The London average rent fell to £1,519 a month compared with £1,537 a year ago. Rents in the south-east have also fallen slightly year on year, from £1,007 to £1,003. After years of being hit by steadily rising rent bills, it appears that tenants in the capital may finally be getting the upper hand. Read more on the Homelet website.

Council Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in council housing rents on (1) the maintenance and improvement of the existing council housing stock, and (2) the building of new council houses between now and 2022.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: I refer the noble Lord to my previous answer to him on 27 March - PQ HL6120. As stated in the Housing White Paper, the Government will in due course set out a rent policy for social landlords for the period beyond 2020 to help them to borrow against future income. Our aim is to ensure that they have the confidence they need about their future income in order to plan ahead.

Rising Number Of Landlords Leaving Buy To Let

The number of Buy to Let landlords selling up is on the up. In its private rented sector report for March, ARLA Propertymark (Association of Residential Letting Agents) records agents reporting a rise in the number of landlords selling their Buy to Let (BTL) properties – with an average of four selling up per branch, compared to three in February. The last time the number of landlords selling their BTL rose above three per branch was in November last year, when the letting agent fees ban was announced. And the number of tenants negotiating rent reductions rose month on month in March too. Read more on the ARLA website.

Council Rents After 2020

The government has promised further discussions with the housing sector before setting out a new rent policy for the period beyond 2020 "in due course". The policy will help raise borrowing against future income. The recent Housing White Paper confirmed the government will continue with its policy of reducing council and housing association rents by 1% a year for the next three years but promises an announcement "in due course" on a rent policy for social housing landlords (both housing associations and local authorities) for the period beyond 2020. The earliest likely date for an announcement on a new social rent policy is this year's autumn Budget. Read more on the ARCH website.

Social Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in social housing rents on the maintenance and improvement of the existing housing stock, and on the building of new houses between now and 2022.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: The fiscal impact of the social rent reduction policy on public finances was included as part of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s policy costings for Budget 2015 which can be (attached) found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/443195/Policy_costings_summer_budget_2015.pdf . In September 2015 the CLGcarried out an impact assessment of the effect of the social rent reduction policy on housing associations which can be (attached) found at http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impactassessments/IA15-006F.pdf .  Social housing providers are well placed to manage these reductions and have proved themselves to be more than capable of adapting and responding to change. The Government is investing £7.1 billion in the expanded Affordable Homes Programme from 2016-21, which will support housing associations and local authorities to build another 225,000 affordable homes by March 2021.