According to new research, over half of private property landlords in the United Kingdom have a preference on whether their tenants are male or female. The research was carried out by online letting agency Upad and the findings were that the sex of a tenant was a real concern for 57% of those landlords who took part.
The survey also found that landlords were also more in favour of couples as both parties fulfil certain jobs in the property. The majority of landlords felt that the typical typecasts of men being good at general maintenance in the house and women being clean and tidy were very important when considering tenants.
James Davis, chief executive officer of Upad, said “Like it or not, gender can sometimes be a deciding factor in whether a person makes the cut even in the rental arena. In our survey, we really wanted to see if the sex of a prospective tenant actually matters to landlords and from our research it appears that it does.”
Some landlords felt that men make better tenants because they can change light bulbs, they know how the central heating works, and they are happy to carry out minor repairs. Men are thought to be more easy going and they take care of the small things, because generally they just want a roof over their heads. However, there are some who do prefer females as they are also more in control of finances then males and they are also more likely to stay put which is something all landlords want from a tenant. If a property does become vacant it means extra paperwork such as amending their landlord insurance policy, retrieving keys, sprucing up the property and advertising for new tenants. Both genders have their pros and cons which are why landlords are generally delighted to have couples as tenants rather than sharers.