A
few weeks ago I was asked a fascinating question by a local Councillor who,
after reading the Chelmsford Property Blog, emailed me and asked me – “Are Chelmsford
Landlords meeting the Challenges of tenanted families bringing up their
families in Chelmsford?”
What
interesting question to be asked.
Irrespective
of whether you are tenant or a homeowner, to bring up a family, the most
important factors are security and stability in the home. A great bellwether of
that security and stability in a rented property is whether tenants are
constantly being evicted. Many
tenancies last just six months with families at risk of being thrown out after
that with just two months’ notice for no reason.
Some “left
leaning Politian’s” keep saying we need to deal with the terrible insecurity of
Britain’s private rental market by creating longer tenancies of 3 or 5 years
instead of the current six months. However, the numbers seem to be telling a
different story. The
average length of residence in private rental homes has risen in the last 5
years from 3.7 years to 4 years (a growth of 8.1%), which in turn has directly
affected the number of renters who have children. In fact, the proportion of private
rented property that have dependent children in them, has gone from 29.1% in
2003 to 37.4% today.
Looking
specifically at Chelmsford compared to the National figures, of the 6,597
private rental homes in Chelmsford, 1,916 of these have dependent children in
them (or 29%), which is interestingly (although expected) below the National
average of already stated 37.4%.
Even
more fascinating are the other tenure types in Chelmsford…
·
33.7% of Social (Council) Housing in Chelmsford have dependent children
·
45% of Chelmsford Owner Occupiers (with a Mortgage) have dependent
children
·
8.2% of Owner Occupiers (without a Mortgage) have dependent children
Although,
when we look at the length of time these other tenure types have, whilst the
average length of a tenancy for the private rented sector is 4 years, it is
11.4 years in social (council) housing, 24.1 years for home owners without a
mortgage and 10.4 years of homeowners with mortgages.
Anecdotally
I have always known this, but this just proves landlords do not spend their
time seeking opportunities to evict a tenant as the average length of tenancy
has steadily increased. This noteworthy 8.1% increase in the average length of
time tenants stay in a private rented property over the last 5 years, shows tenants
are happy to stay longer and start families.
So,
as landlords are already meeting tenants’ wants and needs when it comes to the
length of tenancy, I find it strange some politicians are calling for fixed
term 3 and 5 year tenancies. Such heavy handed regulation could stop landlords
renting their property out in the first place, cutting off the supply of much
needed rental property, meaning tenants would suffer as rents went up. Also, if
such legislation was brought in, tenants would loose their ‘Get Out of Jail
card’, as under current rules, they can leave at anytime with one months notice
not the three or six month tenant notice suggested by some commenters.
Finally,
there is an extra piece of good news for Chelmsford tenants. The English
Housing Survey notes that those living in private rented housing for a long
periods of time generally paid less rent than those who chopped and changed.
