A major survey suggests that tenants are taking full advantage of their new powers under the Renters Rights Act (RRA).
Of the tenants surveyed by PropTech platform Goodlord, some 77% say they currently feel secure in their tenancy. Optimism has also spiked: up from 20% of tenants last year to 37% this year.
Awareness of the RRA is also strong amongst renters – over two-thirds (68%) say they have heard of the Act, up from around half last year.
And the tenants who are aware of the Act are beginning to leverage it:
- Of the 7% of renters who have served notice on their tenancies since May, a huge majority – 70% – say the Act influenced their decision;
- Some 44% moved sooner than planned and 26% say they wouldn’t have moved without the RRA.
Tenants are also turning to AI to exploit these new rights:
- 1 in 4 (24%) said they have used AI to understand their rights as a tenant and 23% have used it to make sense of a tenancy agreement;
- 1 in 5 renters (18%) have used AI to draft emails or letters to a landlord or agent.
However, despite benefitting from new rights under the RRA, tenants appear to be feeling the squeeze.
The Goodlord survey shows:
- More than half of tenants surveyed (53%) spend over 30% of their take-home income on rent;
- And over half (54%) say they have less than £500 in readily accessible savings or investments, with 55% saying they have personal debt (not including student loans);
- Faced with any significant rent increase in the near future, 35% say they would experience financial distress;
- However, rental rises could be on the horizon: among landlords planning EPC upgrades, 31% expect to increase rent where possible to recover costs.
This year’s State of the Lettings Industry Report is Goodlord’s biggest yet and draws on 3,031 respondents: 442 lettings professionals, 589 landlords, and 2,000 tenants.
