Across the UK agents have reported a massive increase in tenant demand for the third quarter in a row, resulting in the third and largest successive rise since the figures started to rise. At the same time many landlords are putting their properties on the market, as a recent ARLA report confirms.

For many years tenants have had the upper hand when it comes to the choice of rental property, and were in a position to negotiate with landlords looking for the 'right' tenants, however with the consistent increases in demand this table is turning fast, so why is this?
In our own branches we have an average of 800 tenants registered as actively looking for property at any one time, with some as high as 1500, we are seeing an average of two applications for every property let, and in one case we had 5 applications for one property, which is something in 20 years that I have never witnessed before on such a consistent level.

Tenant demand is increasing as fewer and fewer people choose not to, or are just unable to buy. We have had the problem of tenants struggling to save for deposits to buy for some time but now the introduction of MMR has only further added to the demand, as people are more unlikely to get personal mortgages without being able to prove suitable expenditure levels, meaning more are turning to the private rental sector.