A major regional letting agent in Yorkshire has said that letting demand throughout the county is now at a record high, with at least ten prospective tenants showing interest for every single property that becomes available to rent.
Yorkshire Agents, Linley & Simpson’s research shows that in the past month, the gap between available stock and people wanting to rent has got bigger, leaving many tenants unable to find somewhere to live. The agency says that private landlords have been able to take their pick of tenants, generally choosing professionals in employment, with an exemplary rental history and the ability to move in quickly. The sharp upturn in tenant applications is being expressed across all of Linley & Simpsons nine Yorkshire offices, but is more prominent in Leeds, York, Harrogate and Wakefield. The firms Roundhay office is one of three they have in Leeds and it has reported a 71% increase in tenants actively looking for property compared to September 2011.
Director Will Linley said: “The dearth of properties reinforces what we predicted last year and, unless the Government introduces incentives or banks free up money for investors to breathe life back into the buy-to-let market, supply will continue to lag behind growing demand. Unless stock levels start to increase, more and more tenants will find it difficult to find a property and monthly rents will rise. At any one time we have more than 400 available properties on our database that links all our offices – but more than ten times that number of people registered. It is a situation that is not common just to us – it is one that is reflected across the sector as a whole.”
The value of good landlord insurance is still a big factor for the majority of residential landlords as the survey found that almost three-quarters (73%) of private landlords say their rental properties are returned to them in either an average or poor condition after the tenants move out. While only 5% state that property is a complete wreck, four out of ten said they have had, on at least one occasion, a rental property returned to them in such a bad condition that it has needed a full refurbishment. Only a quarter of respondents said their properties are normally vacated in a good condition.