New data from the National Housing Federation has revealed that 31% of all private renters in Britain are struggling each month to pay for their home.

The equivalent of just over three million people, most of which are families, are particularly feeling the strain with 41% admitting they fight each month to keep a roof over their head.

Over 700,000 (or roughly 1 in 12 private renters) acknowledged that they struggle every month with their rent every time it’s due.

The shortage of affordable homes across the country and the high cost of homeownership, combined with stagnant wages, have resulted in the highest proportion of private renters for 40 years. But soaring rents and high deposits mean many are finding it difficult to keep up with the costs that renting a home privately entails.

Families with children renting privately are even cutting back on essentials, with more than one in four cutting back on buying food and just under one in four  cutting back on heating their home so that they can pay their rent.

The emotional as well as the financial strain is also taking its toll on private renters as 31% say they worry that their rent will increase and they will struggle to afford it, and in the last 12 months around 15% have suffered from stress and anxiety due to worrying about their rent going up.

The National Housing Federation is calling for more homes to be built that families on low and middle incomes can genuinely afford.

David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “It’s just unacceptable that families are left struggling to pay for homes in the private rented sector that they can’t even afford to heat properly. We have too many renters just keeping their heads above water, who are being kept awake at night and suffering from stress over the worry of paying the next rent bill.

The government need to come up with a bolder, long-term plan for house building so that families across the country can find the homes they need, at a price they can afford. We’re calling for all parties to commit to end the housing crisis within a generation.”

Blog Post from Property Reporter

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Central Housing Group’s ‘Guaranteed Rent’ Scheme protects landlords from the substantial risk of rent arrears. Our landlords are paid an agreed monthly Guaranteed Rent for the duration of the term of their contract regardless of their tenants’ financial or employment circumstances and regardless of whether their property is occupied or not. Consequently our landlords have complete peace of mind knowing they will not be impacted at all by the risk of incurring rent arrears or rent loss during void periods, in contrast to those landlords that let their properties in the private rented sector, with all the attendant risks and exposure of doing so, as highlighted in this article.

Landlords – please carefully consider the risks you run by choosing to let your property privately when, instead, you can let your property on our ‘Guaranteed Rent’ Scheme and protect yourself from any rental loss exposure. As a tendered supplier to many of our Council clients, our accounts are audited annually and are subject to regular scrutiny by our Council clients – landlords can therefore have complete confidence in our ability to ensure they will receive their agreed rent on a Guaranteed basis for the duration of the term of their contract with us. 

If you are interested in finding our more about our ‘Guaranteed Rent’ Scheme, currently operating in north, east & west London, please call us today on 020 8447 1222.

See details of our Guaranteed Rent Scheme here