As landlords sell up to take advantage of sky-high house prices or rent their properties on a short-term basis to those looking to holiday in the UK, a reduction in available rental homes has meant fierce competition among tenants.
Potential tenants are finding themselves in bidding wars and are being gazumped at the last minute as rivals offer higher monthly rents. Agents have been holding group viewings, with bidding wars breaking out at the end.
Tenants have been asked to sign two-year contracts instead of one-year and to start paying rent immediately rather than moving in after a couple of months, as is usual.
While rental bidding is not illegal in the UK, agents should not take bids once a deposit has been paid by someone.
Renting during the pandemic
Rental properties continued to do well throughout the pandemic, with rents increasing in several major towns and cities and only a handful of places where rents fell by more than one per cent.
The current rental market
One London agency reported registrations by hopeful tenants rising from around 90 in June 2021 to over 400 the following month, with only just over 80 available properties on its books.
There are currently around 168,500 rental properties on the market for new tenants in England, with supply at its lowest in the southwest, where fewer than 8,000 homes are available.
In Oxford, lettings agency Hamptons report that there are 22 applicants for every property available to rent, and this interest is before the details have been put on Rightmove. Most of the
interest in the town is currently coming from families rather than students.
In Kent, agents are reporting that 30-50 per cent of rentals are going for more than the original asking price.
Securing a rental property
Potential tenants are endeavouring to appear desirable to landlords, emphasising their professional jobs and mentioning stable relationships.
The form they fill in for the landlord has a box where they can include an offer amount and they are also required to state whether they have pets or children. They have the option to fill in a tenant statement section, explaining to the landlord why they want the property. Agents are advising tenants not to fill in a further box entitled tenant requests, where they could ask for changes to be made to the property or furnishings.
In Cornwall, property consultant Michael Kleinman says that the lettings market is so fierce that one landlord demanded a tenant pay a whole year’s rent upfront or the rent would be put up by £200 per month.
A basic two-bedroom house available recently had over 400 enquiries. He says: ‘That’s not uncommon. It’s a nightmare to even get a viewing now. We’re talking bog-standard properties. Nothing exciting about them.”
With the property purchase market finally starting to slow, it remains to be seen how long it will take the rental market to follow suit. For desperate would-be tenants, the sooner, the better.
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