The cost of living crisis and the impact on rent arrears

With the cost of living crisis continuing to affect the rental industry, we take a deeper look at the impact it has made in one area in particular, rent arrears.

In a survey by fin-tech company Molo, they found that almost 60% of landlords in the UK have seen an increase in late payments amidst the cost of living crisis.

The financial implications

Molo’s study found that landlords are owed an average of £725 from late rent, which if combined with an extensive list of damages and repairs, could easily exceed the full five weeks of rent which a traditional deposit offers. Leaving landlords to attempt to recover any additional charges themselves.

Interestingly, the average amount of rent arrears with tenants using flatfair No Deposit over the last two months has been significantly lower, at £397. And in the last 7 months, the average is almost £200 less than with traditional deposits. This shows that our deposit alternative will certainly not attract a lesser quality of tenant than a traditional deposit.

The rise in demand for deposit alternatives

In a survey to 120 of our agency and Build to Rent partners, 80% agreed that the cost of living crisis has increased the demand for our deposit alternative, flatfair No Deposit.

This is because:

• Tenants secure their new home with significantly lower upfront costs of just 1 week’s rent (+VAT) instead of a five week traditional deposit
• While landlords receive free market-leading protection of up to 10 weeks on their property for damages and/or rent arrears

This means at the end of tenancy, if necessary, landlords are protected for the usual five weeks of rent arrears (as with a traditional deposit) plus an additional five weeks worth of damages. We also offer a free debt collection service to landlords in order to fully recover all additional charges.

The importance of choice

These latest statistics mark the importance of offering tenants and landlords a choice amidst the cost of living crisis.

And with flatfair Deposits, you can offer your tenants and landlords the choice of a traditional deposit alongside our deposit alternative, in one simple place.

Not only is our deposit solution completely free to use, you also save lots of time as we register all your traditional deposits for you, improving your efficiency and compliance. Which is why it is already used by the largest agents and operators in the industry such as Andrews, CGT, Greystar, Native Residential and hundreds more.