The cost of renting a home in the private sector is seen as expensive according to the results of a recent survey. The British Social Attitudes study on housing produced for Natcen Social Research found that 35% of those renting a property in the private sector are struggling to keep up with monthly payments compared to 29% of those renting through social housing schemes.
The research also sought to gauge the perception of rental costs with 32% of those renting in the private sector saying rates are too high, while 43% those living in social housing saying they perceive privately rented homes as unaffordable.
The results of this recent study are especially significant as the Chancellor George Osborne has recently declared that tenants will not have the right to a council house for life, and has also outlined policies for shorter term tenancy agreements for families on waiting lists. The Chancellor also announced social housing rent would be capped at 80% of the market rate, while housing benefit would be limited to £400 a week for those renting homes in the private sector.
Experts believe that these restrictions are likely to lead to increased difficulties for many social housing tenants renting in the private sector who are already finding it difficult to meet the monthly rental costs.
Demand for rental properties is especially great at present as would-be first time buyers are delaying buying their first home, or are unable to get a mortgage from banks reluctant to lend, which has lead to a boom in the rental market which has pushed up rental costs as more people are opting to rent.
