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Generation Rent Private Renters Poll

ComRes interviewed 1,004 GB adults living in private rented housing online between 25th February and 3rd March 2014, for Generation Rent. Data were weighted to be representative of all GB adults living in private rented housing. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council.

Date Published: 26 Mar 2014

Categories: Personal Finance | Public and communities | Social | UK

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Renters cutting back on heating and eating due to cost of rent

 

Two in five private renters (39%) are cutting back on heating because of the cost of rent, while a third (33%) are skimping on food, a new poll has found.

A survey of 1,004 Britons living in private rented sector housing, commissioned by Generation Rent and conducted by ComRes, has uncovered the extent of the crisis affecting Britain’s nine million private renters. As this number continues to grow, more tenants are being affected by problems in this largely unregulated sector.

The high cost of rents is the number one concern for those in the private rented sector. More than half (52%) say their biggest problem as renters is the current cost of rent. Expensive rents are eroding their quality of life, with 39% saying that they have had to limit heating their property because of the cost of rent, while 33% say that they have had to cut back on food.

For two thirds of private renters, there is no alternative: 67% of renters – around six million people – say that the main reason they rent is because they cannot afford to buy their own property.

Despite high costs, conditions remain poor for many private renters. One in three (33%) say they are living in properties with unacceptable dampness. And renters feel landlords often fail to care about this: around a third (35%) say that their landlord does not seem particularly interested in their living conditions.

The survey was carried out on behalf of Generation Rent, the campaign for professionally managed, secure, decent and affordable privately rented homes. Generation Rent is campaigning to end the multiple problems that private renters face – involving high rents, poor conditions, short-term and insecure tenancies and mistreatment by landlords and letting agents. It is calling for a national register of landlords, licensing of letting agents, minimum conditions as a prerequisite of letting as well as longer, more secure tenancies and more affordable privately rented homes. Generation Rent has received a grant of £725,000 from the Nationwide Foundation, which supports organisations working to create decent, affordable homes.

 

ComRes interviewed 1,004 GB adults living in private rented housing online between 25th February and 3rd March 2014, for Generation Rent. Data were weighted to be representative of all GB adults living in private rented housing. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council.

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