Taylor Scott International News
Cases of private rented sector tenants in the UK seriously behind on rent are rising once more, up 13.8% between the second and third quarters of 2015, new research shows. Those more than two months behind on rent now number 84,200, the most households since the second quarter of 2013, according to the latest Tenant Arrears tracker report from estate agency chains Your Move and Reeds Rains. In absolute terms this represents a quarterly increase of 10,200 additional households in potentially serious financial difficulties. On an annual basis, this means 13,200 more households are in significant arrears than a year ago, or an annual increase of 18.6% since the third quarter of 2014, when this figure previously stood at 71,000 across the UK. On a historical basis, the latest deterioration in serious tenant arrears remains relatively mild, remaining considerably below the record 116,600 such cases seen in the third quarter of 2012. However the latest figures for the third quarter of 2015 represent the highest levels in more than two years. The report points out that in part, the increase in absolute numbers of serious arrears due to the overall growth in the size of the UK private rented sector. As a proportion of all private tenancies, just 1.6% are in serious arrears of more than two months. This compares to a peak proportion of 2.9% of tenants in the first quarter of 2008. ‘The chance of an individual tenant falling into serious arrears remains very low. In general, renting works for most people. Over the last decade the private rented sector has expanded at an unprecedented pace, providing homes for millions of households at the same time as absorbing the worst financial crisis in living memory,’ said Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains . ‘In the current climate, optimism feels increasingly reasonable. Most households are beginning to earn more, the cost of living is stable and the chance of falling into unemployment is diminishing. For the majority of tenants, paying the rent is becoming easier rather than harder,’ he pointed out. ‘But beneath this rising tide there are inevitably some households and individuals who are not yet feeling any new economic buoyancy. As others bid rents higher there will be a minority who are still struggling to keep up. Landlords and tenants have a mutual responsibility to be aware of this small but significant risk,’ he added. In quarter three of 2015 there were a total of 26,712 court orders for the eviction of tenants, on a seasonally adjusted basis. This is 4.3% lower than was seen in the second quarter when seasonally adjusted eviction orders stood at 27,909, and 7.8% fewer evictions than 28,959 a year before in the third quarter of 2014. Breaking 11 previous consecutive quarters of improvement, landlords’ own finances have remained in stable health between the second and third quarter of 2015. In the latest figures there are currently 5,700 cases of buy… Taylor Scott International
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