Nearly half of the UK’s BTL landlords (44%) will put up rent in response to the Renters’ Rights Bill.
A poll by lender Landbay reveals that landlords plan to increase rents by an average of 6%, adding an extra £74 per month onto the average monthly bill.
Landlords with portfolios of between four and 10 properties are most likely to increase rents (32%) due to the legislation, closely followed by those with between 16 and 30 properties (28%). Renters in the South East are most likely to be impacted, followed by those in the North West.
Under the Bill, landlords will be limited to one rent increase per year to the market rate. Landbay believes their decision to pre-emptively increase rents reflects not just the potential cost implications of new regulation, but also the continued uncertainty among landlords around the planned removal of Section 21 no-fault evictions. In its previous survey, 75% of landlords expressed concerns about their ability to cope with problem tenants when Section 21 goes.
Rob Stanton (pictured), sales and distribution director, says: “This sharp rise in rents in the short term shows the unintended consequence of this new regulation, as landlords look to act now and pre-emptively raise rents in fear of future cost implications or difficulties, and to protect their investments.
"By forcing the hand of landlords in this way, there is a real risk of worsening the cost-of-living crisis that so many private renters are currently facing.”
Most of these polled landlords (89%) intend to raise rents in the next 12 months, while more than a third plan to increase rents between 3% and 10% over the next 12 months, and 11% don’t plan to put up rents at all.
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