Are we creating a class system in Housing- Is rent up front creating economic discrimination.

Part 2

Following on from my article on the use of empty homes and the average cost of renting vs income, I looked at what barriers tenants have when finding a property to rent other than affordability.

Many peoples lifestyles have changed post-covid, many now work from home, many now have a better work/life balance and enjoy or want to enjoy a garden more than the commute to work.

But what are the reasons so many tenants are finding it so hard to secure a property, is it really lack of supply, well in peaks and troughs quiet possibly, so lets look at some numbers.

ARLAs monthly report showed that each of its agents branches had on average 9 properties available to let, and that the average applicant for each property was 10.

But what has been reported by agents and landlords alike is a growing trend of Rental gazumping.

In the current property climate, many rental properties will fly off the letting list and that can result in rental gazumping as landlords have so much choice of who they decide to rent to. Landlord and agents recognise that this is a problem for a number of prospective tenants but willingness to rent gazump should not be the sole criteria for who gets to rent a property.

Applicants who have savings or the bank of mum and dad are in a financial position to offer the landlord the security of 3 or 6 or even 12 months rent upfront and possibly more that the marketed rental value.

Many landlords work to cashflow and the bonus of a lump sum rent upfront can make one candidate look much more attractive than another, in turn for agents, if their commission is based on the rental income achieved, surely someone offering a higher rent and a lump sum payment is the idea tenant.

But is this short sighted and is this creating a class system within our housing market based solely on economic discrimination, purposely excluding eligible renters who just can’t afford the lump sum up front but can clearly afford the monthly rent.

In contrast, Agents will set the value of the rental properties, wanting to achieve the highest rent for their client the landlord, but ultimately to achieve the highest commission, so are they inadvertently driving up rental prices