Most tenants happy with home, rent, agent and landlord

Research commissioned by specialist buy-to-let lender, Paragon Mortgages shows that 81 per cent of tenants living in the private rented sector are satisfied with their landlord.

The survey carried out during the first quarter by market research firm BDRC Continental asked 500 tenants living in the sector for their views on their current tenancy and their future aspirations in terms of housing.

The large majority of tenants - 82 per cent - said they consider the property they rent to be their home and 70 per cent said they perceived the rent they pay to be either good or very good value for money.

A fifth of respondents said in the long-term they plan to buy their own home and 35 per cent said they expect to stay in the private rented sector.

The survey also revealed that 12 per cent of tenants felt uncomfortable approaching their landlord about extending their tenancy agreement and six per cent who had asked for a longer tenancy were refused. 

However, 57 per cent said they had always been happy with the tenancy offered and 17 per cent had asked for a longer-term and their landlord had agreed.

“There has been a lot of noise around the need for longer-term tenancies for some time and I think there is a common misconception that landlords are not willing to be flexible in the tenancies they offer. Our landlord research demonstrates that many are more than willing to extend terms and in 71 per cent of cases it was the tenant who chose to end the tenancy and not the landlord” says Paragon’s mortgage director, John Heron.

“We are big supporters of offering longer-term tenancies and we were one of the first buy-to-let lenders to announce we would support the government’s new model lease and allow landlords to offer 36 month tenancies to those tenants who need that extra security, as we believe this is our social responsibility” he says.