Almost half of all private renters (48%) have experienced rule-breaking behaviour by letting agents in the past three years, according to Citizens Advice, with some tenants left waiting days for urgent repairs while others were charged fees they should never have paid.
The charity’s latest research paints a bleak picture of the private rented sector, finding that the equivalent of nearly four million renters who dealt with a letting agent encountered practices that may have breached existing rules.
The findings come at a time when tenants are already facing record-high rents, with many forced to cut back on essentials or borrow money simply to keep a roof over their heads.
Among renters who reported emergency issues such as gas leaks, dangerous electrics or broken front doors, more than two-thirds (68%) said they waited longer than 24 hours for action from their letting agent. More than a quarter (29%) said urgent repairs were never resolved at all.
Citizens Advice also highlighted cases where renters were told they had to use zero-deposit schemes to secure a property, despite this not being a requirement, while others reported being charged prohibited inventory-related fees. Problems continued after tenancies ended, with more than half of renters waiting longer than two weeks to receive some or all of their deposit back.
The charity warned that poor service and weak enforcement risk undermining the government’s Renters’ Rights Act, arguing that stronger action will be needed if the reforms are to deliver meaningful improvements for tenants.
Tom MacInnes, director of Policy at Citizens Advice, said: “Private renters are forking out more than ever to put a roof over their heads, and in return they get a rock-bottom service from letting agents.
“Nobody should be left to live in dangerous conditions for days, have to fight for money they’re owed or be charged illegal fees. But our advisers are helping tenants with these kinds of problems regularly.
“The new Renters’ Rights Act is a huge moment for private tenants – a reform Citizens Advice has long campaigned for. But this landmark legislation will only deliver its true potential if the government holds letting agents to account with better regulation and tougher enforcement of the existing rules.”
Letting agent bashing now eh? I’ve worked in many industries and managing rental properties is one of the most abusive of them all. Tenant entitlement, rude and obnoxious calls/emails with unreasonable threats and demands are common place. Instant repairs do not happen. Boilers need parts etc.. I’ve never read so much rubbish in an article. Good Letting Agents were already members of accredited schemes long before the appalling RRA was dreamt of, and provided excellent service in the face of growing hostility amplified by the media.
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BILL-SHUT!!! (credit Peebee). If this is true, what is the point of the redress schemes whose own figures show a fraction of 1% of tenants complain each year? Nearly four million renters experiencing rule-breaking behaviour would generate somewhat more than a handful of complaints to the Property Ombudsman.
Did this bloke work for Shelter? The last time we saw statistics like this was Shelter extrapolating national scandals from an episode of Family Fortunes.
Citizens Advice surveyed renters who had already decided to engage with Citizens Advice. That is not a representative sample of the private rented sector. That is a self-selected queue of people who already had a problem. Extrapolating that to 48% of all private renters is not research. It is arithmetic in a hall of mirrors.
The Renters Rights Act deserves better than this as its evidence base.
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While any genuine breach of legislation should be taken seriously, it is important to distinguish between poor service, tenant dissatisfaction, alleged breaches and proven regulatory violations.
The article states that 48% of renters experienced “rule-breaking behaviour”, but later refers to practices that “may have breached” existing rules. These are very different conclusions.
Before accepting figures suggesting nearly four million renters have experienced rule-breaking by letting agents, readers should be able to see the underlying methodology, including how breaches were identified, whether allegations were independently verified, and how the sample was weighted to represent the wider rental market.
The lettings industry should always be held accountable for poor practice, but public debate is best served by evidence, transparency and balanced reporting rather than headline statistics that may overstate the conclusions that can reasonably be drawn from the data.
Can Citizens Advice publish the full methodology behind the claim that nearly four million renters experienced rule-breaking behaviour, including how alleged breaches were distinguished from poor service complaints and whether any of the findings were independently verified?
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The trouble is tenants are used to an ‘Amazon’ culture and expect everything same day / next day and the reality is the agent is stuck in the middle or tenant and landlord, and beholden to contractors. Also sometime what tenants think is an emergency, isn’t actually an emergency. I like already mentions there is a redress scheme so if agents are in breach then surely we would see more cases through the regulatory body. I’d be interested to see how this information was gathered and the questions asked and how they were verified.
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This is a classic example of the Citizens Advice Bureau accepting the tenant’s version of events without verifying the facts. I once dealt with a case where a tenant informed the CAB that we had failed to protect their deposit. The CAB then contacted us demanding information and even went as far as suggesting the level of penalty we could face.
I responded by pointing out that they had no entitlement to the information they were requesting and that, by accepting a one-sided account without proper investigation, they were undermining their own credibility. In doing so, they were reinforcing the tenant’s misunderstanding of the situation rather than providing informed and impartial advice.
In my view, many landlord bashing organisations have also contributed to some of the problems now being experienced within the private rented sector. Through their lobbying and influence on government policy, significant changes have been introduced under the Renters’ Rights Act, resulting in a substantial reduction in the rights and protections previously available to landlords.
The unintended consequence is that many responsible and professional landlords are leaving the sector altogether, reducing the supply of quality rental accommodation. As a result, tenants are finding it increasingly difficult to secure homes with reputable landlords and have little choice but to rent from rogue landlords who have little regard for regulations or best practice. Far from helping tenants, these changes risk creating a rental market with fewer good landlords, fewer available properties, and fewer housing options for those who need them most.
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A `charity` singing a familiar refrain of `..wicked landlords..blah blah..`
They`re angling for funding (from the public purse) to pursue a politically based ideology of anti-capitalism, constant opposition to anything involving landlords in the PRS. Other surveys have shown tenant satisfaction at 67% resulting in a pleasant working relationship. CA have their usual axe to grind.
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