An estimated 700,000 households across the UK missed rent or mortgage payments in April, according to the consumer body Which?
It has based the claim on a survey of 2,000 people by Yonder, which indicated that around 2.5 per cent of households had missed or defaulted on a housing payment in the previous month.
Missed housing payments were particularly high among renters with 5.2 per cent, or around one in 20, missing a payment in the past month.
Across both renters and owners, some 59 per cent people reported making at least one adjustment to cover essential spending such as utility bills, housing costs, groceries, school supplies and medicines in the past month.
This included cutting back on essentials, dipping into savings, selling possessions or borrowing.
Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, says: “It’s very worrying that so many households are missing housing payments.
“We’d encourage anyone who’s struggling to seek free debt advice and reach out to their mortgage provider or landlord for help.
“As so many people face financial hardship, Which? is calling on businesses in essential sectors like food, energy and telecoms providers to do more to help customers get a good deal and avoid unnecessary or unfair costs and charges during this crisis.”
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I read an article in one of the RICS professional journals that much of the rent delinquency we are seeing today is due to fuel poverty. Ove 8 million households in the UK are now in fuel poverty and this will continue throughout winter 2023/24 and beyond. A domestic EPC is a simple running cost calculation and there are now 21 million EPCs on the national public database. A good EPC of Grade C and higher means the tenant can probably afford to heat most of the rooms in the house/flat without going into debt. An energy wasteful unit with an EPC of Grade D or E (all Grade F and G units were officially outlawed on 1 April 2023) means that the tenant can probably only heat one room (max), will be in crippling fuel poverty and seeking a better house/flat to accommodate themselves and their family. For my domestic rental portfolio I hired a very good domestic EPC assessor to prepare up-to-date draft 'as is' EPCs and then a set of draft 'predicted' EPCs showing the most cost effective route to achieve EPC Grade C. This has always been a combination of installing lower running cost heating systems and insulation into the walls, loft and roof (for my room in the roof units). Over several years I and my business partner have now got the lot up to EPC Grade C. So far none of our tenants are behind in their rental payments and this set of assets are now MEES Compliant into the future.
Gibbon’s gibberish again.
Explain. Very sensible piece. Many of my portfolio LLs have done just what MG has done. As an energy assessor, I provide draft EPCs, to advise on the most cost effective improvements, to meet MEES. Perhaps you don't bother and regularly whinge on here.
EPC has nothing to do with rental arrears and the article also includes mortgage arrears, so again no connection. Perhaps he is a friend of yours, unlikely, or you work together which is more likely.
Indicated, estimated...... are there any facts behind this. With 4m PRS properties (approx) - so they are suggesting that nearly 1 in 5 tenancies defaulted on rental payments!?! Not what I've seen or heard generally- anyone out there seeing ANYTHING like this? With so many headlines scaring Landlords right now, we don't need fabricated ones!
Kristjan,quite right ! Virtually all insulation is hydrocarbon based. So you either spend money on hydrocarbons upfront, or later. No savings ! I have been in the energy industry and have been heavily into energy saving for many years. A lot is impractical, a lot of tenants will end up with condensation problems, which will become mould !!!? I have advised my tenants that they can save a lot of money by using has kettles instead of electric. None of them have.
Save energy and reduce exoenses. Turn the heat down and wear more clothes and exercise
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