BBC reports on “unaffordable” rents for tenants under 30

A series of BBC reports over the weekend highlighted what the broadcaster calls “a brewing cost-of-living crisis:” triggered by high rents.

Citing figures from property company Dataloft it says a growing share of young renters are signing new tenancies with rents costing more than 30 per cent of their pay.

It says that while London predictably has the highest rents, affordability has worsened in towns such as Rotherham and Bolton for young people since the pandemic.

In one in six local authorities across England, Wales and Scotland for which there was sufficient data, the majority of young renters were spending more than 30 per cent of their earnings on their housing in the year to the end of June.

Letting agents’ trade body Propertymark told the BBC that rents were increasing due to fewer houses being on the market. This was because many landlords have decided to sell properties because of rising taxes, charges and maintenance costs.

Meanwhile the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities told the BBC that it recognised people were facing cost-of-living pressures and that paying rent was likely to be a tenant's biggest monthly expense.

It said its general £37 billion support package to help housing with rising costs, and the recently announced Renters Reform Bill would give tenants “a fairer deal".

Dataloft says its figures come from records on 150,000 tenants collected by major tenant referencing companies.