Results from the English Housing Survey have found that 20% of tenants are not happy with the standard of their homes. This is twice as high as the 10% of social tenants and 1% of home owners. Their main areas of concern are housing standards and security.
28% of properties in the private rental sector need improving. Problems highlighted include damp, electrical issues, and disrepair. The good news is that this figure is a big improvement on the 47% of homes considered to be sub-standard ten years ago. Clearly, some improvements have been made, but not enough.
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Fire Safety
Fire safety is an alarming area of concern, given the recent tragedy at Grenfell Towers. 20% of homes in the private rental sector don’t have functioning smoke alarms. Landlords are required to fit smoke alarms to their properties. Battery operated smoke alarms are cheap, but they can be disabled by a tenant, so mains-operated smoke/CO detectors are a better choice.
Tenant Security
Security is another issue highlighted by the survey. Tenants prefer longer tenancies, but they can be evicted when the landlord wants to sell up or move back in.
The build to rent sector is trying to address these issues by building high-standard homes and offering long-term tenancies. Leading suppliers of build to rent homes advocate a more professional approach where properties are managed centrally and tenants get a better deal, as they do in Europe and the US.
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