Private rental sector is ‘dire’ for tenants – Generation Rent

Generation Rent claims the current private rental sector is ‘dire’ – but admits that some problems are easing.

It makes the claim based on the results of a survey of only 711 respondents. 

Overall the activist group says: “The picture is still dire, but in some respects things are easing, with fewer renters being asked to move out, and the size, if not the prevalence, of rent increases, reducing.”

In detail the study results say:

• “The proportion of people having to move has fallen since 2024 particularly as a result of a decline in Section 21 notices. This may partly be due to the receding of a spike in evictions following the cut to capital gains tax for landlords in 2024, meaning fewer have been selling up this year. It may also be due to fewer landlords evicting to raise the rent, because rents on new tenancies haven’t been rising as quickly this year … We should see a further fall in these numbers after May 2026, and Section 8 should become the only game in town for landlords who want to evict tenants.”

• “The proportion of renters who had not moved in the past year and were asked to pay higher rent has not increased, yet numbers remain worryingly high. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of renters reported being asked for a rent increase. The size of rent increases does appear appears to be falling, with 15% of respondents saying they were charged at least £100 more per month in the 12 months up to September 2025, compared to 22% in October 2024. This is still more than 1 in 10 renters who are being asked to pay extremely high costs.”

• Only 0.5% of tenants challenged their rent increases at tribunal. This is unsurprising as the tribunal is not well known, does not currently offer useful protections, especially if new tenancy rents have been rising quickly, and landlords still have the trump card of a Section 21 if the tenant goes down this route. We might expect the proportion of renters using the tribunal to increase next year. From 1 May, landlords will have to issue a Section 13 notice to raise rent within a tenancy, and there are better reasons for tenants to challenge it.”

• “The most common reason given by landlords for rent increases was, once again, rising market rents. A further 4% attributed rent hikes to advice from letting agents (likely to have been swayed by increases in commissions when rents go up).”

• “Perhaps … most striking is the rise in rental bidding wars. The proportion of landlords asking tenants to bid or offer the maximum rent they could afford was barely heard of during the pandemic, when competition for homes evaporated, but around one in six renters encountered this in the past year. Thankfully, the new Act will completely ban this practice, marking a major victory for private renters.”

• “Currently, 28% of private renters do not feel confident that they will be able to remain in their home for the next 12 months. Over the coming years, we expect this figure to fall drastically, not only due to the end of fixed-term tenancies that often pressure tenants to move out when they end, but also due to the end of arbitrary Section 21 evictions.”

• 27% of private renters did not feel confident asking their landlord to fix something that is the landlord’s responsibility. Additionally, 24% of private renters feel their home is unsafe or in poor condition. By ending Section 21, the RRA will make it harder for landlords to resist tenants’ complaints about poor quality in our homes, so we would expect more complaints from tenants, and better quality.

• “More than one in three private renters (34%) currently rate their landlord’s communication and responsiveness as poor.”

• Currently, 29% of private renters report having felt intimidated, harassed, or unfairly treated at least once by their current landlord or letting agent. The introduction of a mandatory Private Rented Sector Ombudsman will give renters access to free, impartial advice and a binding way of resolving disputes with landlords without having to go to court.

There is much more in the full statement from Generation Rent, which you can see here: https://www.generationrent.org/2025/12/18/survey-summer-2025/

This article is taken from Landlord Today