Rent arrears put 133,000 tenants at risk

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by Gill Montia

LSL Property Services estimates that at the end of May, around 133,000 (or one-in-twenty-five) tenants in England and Wales had rent arrears that could potentially leave them facing eviction.

The property services group, which is behind the Your Move estate agency brand, calculated total arrears at £254 million last month, with 557,170 tenants overdue and one in seven having missed payments for two months.

In May, the total value of arrears represented an alarming 11.6% of rents payable to private landlords in England and Wales, according to LSL.

However, the figures show an improvement on November 2008, when £278 million was outstanding and 151,000 renters faced possible eviction.

Arrears then amounted to 13.5% of all rents due.

The firm’s commercial director, David Brown, points out that tenants on lower rents are most likely to fall behind with their payments.

He explains: “These people are usually in lower paid jobs and have found themselves much more vulnerable to the economic downturn.”

Arrears have been at their worst in Wales, adding to the woes of landlords who already face the lowest yields and longest void periods.

Yorkshire and the Humber presents the rosiest picture because while yields are lower than in the North West, when voids and arrears are stripped out, landlords receive the highest income on their capital.