The lettings market remains steady with demand roughly unchanged in March compared to the previous month according to the latest figures released by ARLA Propertymark, based on an online survey of some 286 members.

The number of prospective tenants registered per member branch increased by eight per cent in March; in February, agents had 61 on their books on average, compared to 66 in March.

This comes after an increase in January which saw the number of tenants registered per branch jump to 70.2

The number of rental properties letting agents managed increased marginally in March to 179 per branch from 175 in February. This is down year on year; in March 2017 agents managed 183 on average.

The number of tenants experiencing rent hikes increased to 23 per cent in March; this is the highest level seen since September 2017 when 27 per cent of landlords put rent costs up for tenants

This figure is down year on year though; in March 2017, 25 per cent of tenants had their rents increased and 32 per cent were subject to rent rises in March 2016 and 2015.

David Cox, ARLA Propertymark chief executive, describes the market now as ‘business as usual’- but he says this isn’t a good sign in itself. 

“Supply is still too low and almost a quarter of tenants are experiencing rent hikes every month as landlords try to recoup the costs lost trying to keep on top of all the recent legislative changes – including the recent energy efficiency deadline. 

“For the last two decades, successive governments have passed significant amounts of complex legislation for landlords, none of which have been properly policed or adequately enforced – but most of which cost decent landlords a lot of money.

“This is why we’re so supportive of the government’s proposals to crack down on rogue agents, and more recently, plans to confiscate properties from criminal landlords. The announcements mark a sensible shift towards focusing on the root cause of the issues affecting the sector, rather than trying to find solutions to individual problems. This, coupled with greater rental stock is the key to fixing Britain’s broken rental sector.”