Number of people renting privately outstrips those in social housing

According to new research, nearly two thirds of tenants in private rental accommodation in the UK believe they will never buy a home of their own. The number of people living in rental accommodation has risen from 2.2 million to 3.9 million over the last 10 years. For the first time the number of people renting privately outstrips those in council & housing association homes for the first time.

Home ownership has fallen to its lowest level for a quarter of a century and more than a third of England’s 14.3 million home owners are now aged 65 and over. Rising rents mean that many tenants, particularly young people have been unable to save a deposit and the recent mortgage changes have made it even harder to secure funding.

While the growing demand for rental accommodation is good news for landlords, its evitable that this will bring greater government scrutiny to the sector. Current legislative changes like immigration will put more responsibility on landlords and tighter controls will have to be introduced to ensure that basic standards of accommodation are maintained and the regulations set out are being followed.

The full report of this article can be read at: http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/uk-tenant-buying-survey-201409299634.html

Georgina Kelly