Renters are failing to contact their landlords for fear it could trigger rent increases, research from SpareRoom has found.
Close to half (45%) of renters have actively avoided communicating with landlords or agents in the past year about issues with their rental properties, suggesting potentially dangerous hazards like mould are being ignored.
More than half (56%) of UK renters are ‘flathuggers’: they want to move but they’re staying put, usually because available housing is out of budget.
Matt Hutchinson, director of flatshare site SpareRoom, said: “Home is supposed to be a solid platform that lets people go out and build happy, productive lives, yet clearly for many people this simply isn’t the case.
“If we’ve reached the point where people are turning down job opportunities and career progression for fear of having to re-enter the rental market, our politicians are letting people down in a major way and have been for years.
“The upside is that the Renters’ Rights Act addresses some of the key problems tenants face. The end of no-fault evictions, a once-per-year limit on rent increases, and an end to bidding wars and fixed-term tenancies will adjust the balance of fairness for renters and hopefully remove some of the fear and uncertainty around reporting issues.”
In the past five years room rents in the UK have risen by 28% to a record high of £753 per month, and in London by 37% to £995 per month1.