Brits 'increasingly opting for rental property'

Property purchase is a distant dream for many Brits, according to new findings.

Research published by Axa Business Insurance showed that the majority (59 per cent) of consumers said they would prefer to buy, but quite simply can’t afford current house prices.

On the other hand, there is also a sizeable number of tenants, who simply prefer to rent, with 17 per cent choosing to do so because they ‘prefer the freedom’.

In addition, the findings showed that the deciding factor in choosing their current rental property was the size, notably the number of bedrooms, followed by price and being in a central location such as near work and shops and amenities.

Commenting on the research, Darrell Sansom, managing director at AXA Business Insurance, said that although problems between tenants and landlords do crop up from time-to-time, this has not impacted the number of tenants wanting to invest in rental accommodation.

He explained: “It’s easy to present modern Britain as a world of greedy landlords on the one side and resentful tenants on the other, that’s certainly been the stereotype. However, we’ve found that their attitude to their landlords is largely positive, indicating that the problems aren’t caused so much by a bad attitude on either side, but just poor awareness of who is responsible for what.”

The figures also revealed that the type of improvements most tenants demand for their rental properties are better energy efficiency through insulation, newer boilers, double glazing and green technologies.

Tenants are not the only ones concerned about poor energy arrangements in rental properties, as the government are also planning to introduce new energy legislation for landlords.

For instance, by April 2016, landlords will be obliged to introduce any ‘reasonable’ energy efficiency measures like insulation, double-glazing, that a tenant requests.

Published 22nd September, 2014

© 2014 Estates IT Limited