JONATHAN ROLANDE: I thought the rental crisis was bad...

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17 June 2024

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JONATHAN ROLANDE: I thought the rental crisis was bad, but not this bad

Having spent more than three decades working in the property sector, I’ve come to the conclusion I’ve pretty much seen it all.

I’ve lived through house price crashes, recessions and a global pandemic which, in the end, actually served to turbocharge huge parts of the market.

I’ve seen prices rise and fall.

And then I’ve seen them rise and fall again.

I’ve listened to experts predict house-market crashes that never arrived. And I’ve then seen them back on the airwaves making new outlandish predictions instead of eating humble pie.

So, yes I feel like I’ve seen it all. But one thing I can say with total assurance is I’ve never witnessed a situation like the one we are currently seeing in the rental sector.

Up until a couple of weeks ago I knew things were really bad for those looking to enter the rental sector.

But how bad?

Last week, to try and find out, I’ve helped to create a new report with property listing giant Gumtree.

The results were staggering.

According to the data compiled by Gumtree, Luton in Bedfordshire is the UK’s rental hotspot - with nearly 50 people racing for the keys to every home that goes up for rent.

Reading, Sheffield, Newcastle and Bournemouth make up the top five.

The full list is shared below.

It's truly shocking, even to those of us working in the property sector, just how bad the rental crisis has become.

The shortage of decent homes is nothing short of a scandal.

Recent data that shows how the number of properties available to rent in Britain has plummeted as landlords increasingly look to sell up.

In total, 163,000 privately rented properties disappeared from the market between 2019 and the end of 2023 as the number of landlords selling up outstripped purchases.

Why?

There’s many reasons. For a start, landlords have been hit by a barrage of tax rises in recent years, from the introduction of a 3pc Stamp Duty surcharge on second homes in 2016 to the tapered removal of mortgage interest tax relief which began in 2017.

More recently, soaring interest rates and uncertainty over the Renters Reform Bill have also deterred many from investing in buy-to-let.

Long-term shortages of housing stock have been blamed for driving up rents. Last year, tenants renewing an existing contract saw their rental payments jump by 8.3%, bringing the average up to £1,151 per month.

For the incoming Government - whoever they may be - this is now a national emergency.

And rent control isn’t the answer to our housing crisis. In fact, it risks making it worse and creating a whole new crisis. In the very short term, caps give reassurance to tenants who know that their rent will not be increasing. But unless subsidies to top up the difference are provided by the Government many existing landlords will simply sell up, reducing supply.

Call me old-fashioned but can we not just focus on building? And quickly.

If it makes business sense for private landlords to buy and rent a property, surely it can be done by councils too. Those who build thousands more council houses and flats will have recouped the investment within a decade or so whilst providing secure homes built to good modern standards.

We also need to change tax laws to reward landlords who grant longer lets with moderate built-in rent increases. Many tenants complain of a feeling of insecurity.

Allowing landlords to keep more of their rent income would encourage longer, more secure lets.

We can’t continue to have a situation where almost 50 people are battling for every home.

If we do, we will be condemning a whole generation stuck in the misery of a rental race to the bottom.

Rank	City / Area in City	Average number of replies to a listing
1	Luton	49
2	Reading	45
3	Sheffield	38
4	Newcastle	38
5	Bournemouth	29
6	Southampton	27
7	Royal Mile (Edinburgh)	24
8	Longsight (Manchester)	23
9	Cumbernauld	20
10	Droylsden (Greater Manchester)	19
11	Old Trafford (Manchester)	17
12	Gorton (Great Manchester	16
13	Blackley (Lancashire)	16
14	Bradford	15
15	West Bromwich	15
16	Walsall	15
17	Brighton	15
18	Sighthill (Glasgow)	14
19	Bury	14
20	Rochdale	14

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- Shaun Adams
- 17 June 2024 08:33 AM
The political parties want the tenant's vote. Every extra power taken from a landlord and given to a tenant will make more landlords sell, decreasing supply - which will push up rents.

- John Thomspon
- 17 June 2024 08:53 AM
The political and ideologist weaponising of the private rental sector has created an exodus of landlords and a dearth of property I haven't seen in my 40 years in the industry.
Unless a new government take stock and rethink their populist strategy, the unintended consequences will be the creation of a generation of homeless, affecting the most vulnerable in society the most.
Shelter, Generation Rent, Labour. et al, this is all on you. Wake up and get back into the real world...and do it quickly!

- Matthew Fine
- 17 June 2024 10:42 AM
From what I understand Gumtree is used by those let-to-let people who have been on a Guru style training course that sell people an unrealistic dream. They are told to ring private landlords offering them a company let (look into it and the company has just been formed and has not income) and target Gumtree and the other direct to landlord web sites. I guess that is why there is such competition for properties listed to rent on these sites. It is from unscrupulous people trying to conn their way into a property market without any outlay. Perhaps you should collaborate with Zoopla or Rightmove to see what the real market is like! Afterall, you have decades of experience LOL!