According to a poll conducted by GetGround, 81 per cent of landlords feel this could have a negative impact on the rental market.
Additionally, 69 per cent of respondents said in the past year, the balance of power had shifted to landlords.
Over half (57 per cent) of landlords said tenants were willing to pay higher rents to secure tenancies while 55 per cent said tenants would accept higher bills for utilities. A further 69 per cent of respondents said tenants were prepared for unplanned rent increases.
Just an eighth of respondents said tenants are expecting or demanding more from their landlords, while three quarters said the imbalance in supply and demand meant tenants were not as fussy about their properties.
Half of the respondents said they had seen an increase in demand for rental homes over the last 12 months.
Moubin Faizullah Khan, CEO of GetGround, said: “With recent history as our guide, it’s easy to imagine how the private rental sector (PRS) could be brought into disrepute by bad actors: disproportionately high rents, unexpected bill increases, unfairly terminated tenancies and so on.”
A ‘perfect storm’ in the rental market
Khan said both landlords and tenants needed the right protections from bad behaviour.
Ben Beadle, CEO of the NRLA, said the poll highlighted a “perfect storm” of the rising cost of living and rental costs.
He added: “That rents continue to rise is due to the impact of a lack of supply and record demand in the private rented sector. This is very much a problem of the government’s own making: reducing the PRS as landlords vote with their feet because of swingeing taxation and divisive rhetoric is in no one’s interest.
“It’s time for the government to reverse this failed approach by reversing mortgage interest tax changes, abolishing the three per cent stamp duty land tax surcharge, investing in social housing and unfreezing local housing allowance for renters. A failure to do so will only ensure the current misery being felt by all in the sector continues.”
