In the current housing market, landlords are doing all they can to keep tenants in their properties - even if it involves more leniency towards late rent payments, claims a new survey by easyroommate.co.uk.
From 2004 until 2008, the number of tenant evictions rose by over 8 percent, peaking in the third quarter of 2007 with nearly 15,000. But since the middle of 2008, the number of landlords trying to remove tenants from their property has decreased by over 11 percent - down to 12,300 in the third quarter of 2009.
This drop in evictions comes despite the growth in tenants arrears. As recession-driven redundancies, and cuts to pay and bonuses, have taken their toll, thousands more tenants have fallen behind with the rent.
In a National Landlords Association (NLA) survey in October, 43 percent of landlords said they had had tenants in arrears over the course of the previous 12 months.
Jonathan Moore of easyroommate.co.uk said: “In the boom years, when house prices and rents were rising, many landlords were keen to kick out tenants who were late with the rent.
“They’d take cases to the courts as soon they could to remove a tenant in arrears because they knew that would mean increasing the rent when they got a new tenant in, or selling the place to capitalise on inflated house prices.
“But in 2008, house prices stopped rising, and an empty property became a landlord’s worst nightmare. In the current housing market, landlords are doing all they can to keep tenants in their properties - even if it involves more leniency towards late rent payments.”
The report from easyroommate.co.uk goes on to say that the downturn has been so severe, it has driven many landlords out of the market. According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the number of buy to let mortgage possessions in the year ending in the third quarter of 2009 was three times higher than the same period for 2007.
To ensure mortgage payments can be made landlords have had to be flexible. Many have given tenants payment holidays to help overcome short-term cash problems, or relaxed rules regarding sub-letting.
Moore concluded: “The recession has caused misery for thousands in the UK – but thousands of tenants have benefitted as the rules of the game have changed. A couple of years’ ago they’d have been out on their ears if they fell behind with the rent.
“But now that landlords are keen to avoid long void periods, rents have become more flexible and tenants have found it a lot easier to keep a roof over their heads.”
