With Christmas just around the corner, the forecasters are predicting snow and ice over the next week or so, so it looks like we may potentially have a white Christmas. Interestingly though, it also looks as if temperatures are not the only thing to hit freezing point as 2012 becomes 2013: a survey of landlords on the popular housing website, Rightmove, has revealed that nearly two thirds of landlords are planning to ‘freeze’ their rents for next year.
Rent and affordability
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that if rents continue to rise steeply, more and more tenants will be forced into homeless shelters and cardboard boxes. Quite simply, if rents are too high, tenants can’t afford to pay.
It’s a vicious circle
Many people living in rented accommodation are not there through choice. They may have had a mortgage and been forced to sell to pay off debts, or they might be unable to get a foothold on the property ladder because of lender restrictions and an inability to save enough for a hefty deposit. All of these reasons have led to a massive demand for rental accommodation, which in turn has fuelled the meteoric rise in rents across the UK.
However, despite the demand, it seems that many landlords are starting to realise that increasing rents to make a bigger profit is not necessarily the right move. Price the rent too high and you risk dealing with the issue of rent arrears, which is a problem faced by many landlords as the rising cost of living squeezes everyone’s income.
