The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) released statistics regarding the UK housing marketing, which has shown a 173% increase in housing prices in over twenty years. This combined with only a 19% increase in average pay for those aged 24-34, as well as significant increases to renting prices, have entirely “reduced the purchasing power of young adults’ incomes”, making it even harder to save for a deposit and purchase a house.

The IFS have also said that around 40% of young people cannot even afford to buy the cheapest homes in their area with a 10% deposit.

One man, who described buying a house as an “almost impossible challenge”, has recently moved in to a shared house with his partner in order to begin saving. The 27-year old recruitment worker spoke to the BBC about his house-buying expectations, stating:

Ghost tenants is the term used to describe somebody who is living at a property unofficially, which may be an official tenant’s guest, which can be very problematic for landlords.

 The most common occurrences of ghost tenants usually involves either an illegal squatter or unauthorised sub-letting, which is when the official tenant sublets the property to another tenant without the landlord’s permission. Both situations can establish a variety of issues, including:

In wake of the Third Reading of the Tenant Fees Bill, which is due to take place today, the House of Commons have published their briefing paper regarding Tenancy Deposit Schemes. The paper summarises the purpose of the scheme, outlining that all private landlords are obligated to protect their tenant’s deposit through the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. The paper also outlines the main functions of the Tenancy Deposit schemes, as well as exploring the issues and criticisms surrounding the scheme.

The main criticisms discussed within the briefing paper, include: non-compliant landlords, prolonged dispute resolution, abuse of the scheme, and resolute loopholes.

There have been further criticisms of the current Tenancy Deposit Scheme, with the Consumer Association group Which? labelling the scheme “broken”, due to the prolonged re-payments of deposits to tenants.

The National Landlords Association (NLA) has issued a warning, regarding tenants living in Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) who may face an increase in rent or eviction. This is a result of the new government ruling that requires all tenants in shared houses to register with their local council.

Since Monday, there has been an increase of triple the number of houses registered with councils. This amounts to an extra 160,000 HMOs, who may face a surge in rental payments or eviction.  

The chief executive of the NLA, Richard Lambert discussed the new legislation, stating:

The property management company Rushbrook & Rathbone have recently launched a new tenancy deposit replacement product aptly named Property Protect, which was authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Property Protect has been launched in line with the tenant fee ban, making it unlawful to charge tenants for referencing, inventories, and admin fees; changes which are due to implemented next year.

The product is included as an element of the landlord’s insurance package, which consists of rent and legal protection, tenant referencing, protection of property damage, monitoring of tenant’s credit.

Since the introduction of Universal Credit in 2013, there have been a variety of issues raised, especially from people who rent properties and find themselves in debt. The main reason for this is because those who claim for Universal Credit, must wait six weeks before they receive their first imbursement, and therefore are not able to pay their rent in time.

Previously, tenants received some of their benefits or tax credits weekly, which made it easier to pay their rent. These benefits and tax credits included: