According to a recent report the level of debt that the average UK housing tenant is now in has soared to its highest level since the 1980s.
One landlords’ group has said that it was the late 1980s, which was the start of the last recession in the UK, when tenants were last in so much debt. The claims come from the National Landlords’ Association.
The NLA has said that an increasing number of tenants are now falling behind with their rental payments on their homes, partly due to the increase in unemployment levels that has stemmed from the recession. This has left around a third of NLA members in arrears, and the NLA said that it has taken more than twenty thousand calls from landlords that are concerned about rent arrears.
One member said that she was owed nearly £9000 by the tenants that were renting her property, as both of them had lost their jobs in the economic downturn, and this had left her high and dry. This has led to landlords such as her having to put pressure on already stressed out tenants, many of whom end up getting evicted because they cannot afford their rental payments after losing their jobs.
An official from the homeless charity Shelter said that the government needed to act to help troubled tenants in the same way that it had been trying to help troubled homeowners.
He said: “The government needs to look to see how the payment of housing benefit can be speeded up. Otherwise more tenants are likely to become homeless.”
Officials are also urging landlords to be more helpful and sympathetic to struggling tenants given the current climate.