It’s been an extremely busy few months in the lettings market, compared to previous years the increase in tenancy move-ins is at +40%. Great says the boss, however, when we started to try and work out why, it was clear the agency fee ban is partly behind this.
Since agency fees for tenants were abolished, the team at Moovahome have been asking tenants why they are moving. Simply put, the tenants have less barriers to overcome when they now look to move. Previous to the ban, some landlords charged two months deposit, a months rent and an admin fee of around £350 to move, On a typical one-bedroom flat this would be an upfront payment of £2,000. With the fee ban, its now £1100 (Based on a month’s deposit instead of the maximum allowed 5 weeks). We have found by talking to a number of tenants that the main two reasons they are now moving are :
- Their landlord is putting up the rent
- The property they live in need improvement and the landlord won’t do it.
When the fee ban was announced, I predicted the market would change to tenant led instead of landlord led. We believe landlords should reinvest in their investments on a regular basis, and really need to reward long term good tenants with fair increases in rents.
At Moovahome we are increasing inspections in order to try and forge better relationships with tenants and are starting to offer 12-month tenancies (as long as the landlord agrees).
We believe the market will slow down soon as not everyone will want to keep moving home. Despite the costs being lower, getting transport, packing up a home and moving is both time consuming and stressful so we believe it will return to normal levels towards the end of the year.
If you are concerned about your tenants leaving or have any questions please do email the team at lettings@moovahome.co.uk and we will help you.