Rents are on the rise for thousands of private tenants as a change in the law begins to bite landlord finances.
The tenant fees ban started in England in June and Wales in September and has triggered record rents every month since, says letting agent trade body ARLA.
Nearly two-thirds of agents (64%) reported landlords hiked rents in August – a small increase on the 63% filing the same data in July.
Last year, only 40% of landlords increased rents in August, while the number drops again to 35% in August 2017.
The monthly study published by ARLA also shows letting agents have more homes to rent on their books – up from 184 to 197 at each branch since July, while tenant demand has also grown from 73 to 76 prospective tenants seeking a home during the same period.
“Although it’s positive to see that supply has risen, it is nowhere near enough to counterbalance the rapid pace of rising rents,” said David Cox, ARLA’s chief executive.
“The impact of the Tenant Fees Act will continue to be felt by tenants, as in order to keep their heads above water landlords will need to continue increasing rents to cover the additional costs they now have to bear.”
Meanwhile, house price data from lender The Nationwide, whose letting arm is The Mortgage Business, shows UK house prices are in the red.
The value of an average home fell from £216,096 in August to £215352 in September, says the lender and reflects 10 months in a row of prices stalling at less than 1%.
“Indicators of UK economic activity have been fairly volatile in recent quarters, but the underlying pace of growth appears to have slowed as a result of weaker global growth and an intensification of Brexit uncertainty,” says Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist.
