The well known housing charity Shelter has recently called for the introduction of renting contracts that go up to five years, with the aim of giving greater stability to the growing numbers of people who now rent from private landlords. However, the call for longer tenancy agreements will not go down well with the vast majority of people who share rental flats and houses.
Shelter is not alone in calling for longer tenancy agreements as affordable home campaign group, Housing Voice, also recently called for tenures to be extended from six months to at least two years. It would seem however, that tenants themselves are not so sure. Flat and house share website SpareRoom recently conducted a poll of 1,000 renters and found that only 10% would be in favour of longer contracts, 82% against and 8% neutral. The poll also revealed that flat sharers have concerns that a two year tenancy would place further restrictions on the kind of tenant a that private landlord will accept as they seek to reduce the risk on a property that they protect with landlord insurance.
Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom, said “Extended contracts make people anxious, because they think they’ll be locked in for longer and the landlord will be able to increase rents at any point. Given that one of the benefits of renting is the flexibility to relocate to another area or a more suitable property if circumstances change, we can understand why people might be wary of longer contracts.”
Landlords have also voiced their concerns on the subject of longer tenancies, which include the difficulty of evicting bad tenants in the event they cause damage to their property or stop paying the monthly rent. A change to rental contracts that discouraged investment in property for rent could in turn have a negative effect on the current housing crisis rather than resolving it.