Younger private tenants increasingly likely to register to vote

After criticism of many younger voters allegedly failing to turn out during the June 2016 EU Referendum, new analysis of voter registration by a tenant referencing firm shows more young renters are now registered following this month’s General Election campaign. 

Rent4sure says the size of the 18 to 24 age group not on the electoral roll has halved over the past four years from 4.9 per cent to 2.5 per cent, and is continuing to decrease.

Rent4sure’a analysis looks at UK nationals referenced to rent property and reveals that no fewer than 98 of tenants in this category are now on the electoral roll, up by two per cent on 2013.

Of this 98 per cent, almost a quarter are aged 18 to 24 and over half are 25 to 39 years old; around a fifth are aged 40 to 64 while a tiny 1.4 per cent are aged 65 or over. 

“New housing minister Alok Sharma would be wise to sit up and take note of the growing influence of the ‘renting youth’” says Luke Burton, director at Rent4sure.

“Generation Rent is growing with an anticipated 24 per cent of households predicted to be living in private rental accommodation by 2021, according to recent research by Knight Frank. What’s more the under 40’s make up the largest proportion of private renters.

“The rental generation is looking for appropriate housing and this demand is growing. Mr Sharma has a challenge ahead to ensure appropriate housing is available to meet demand, with investment in Build To Rent being a large factor” adds Burton.