Is rental market working? 'No' say most

Is the rental market working? An overwhelming majority – 94.8% when we last looked – say no.

The Guardian has been running a poll – Is the Rental Market Working? – which was open for voting until the end of yesterday.

The results look interesting, although the Guardian failed to ask some key questions – nothing, for example, on whether people thought landlords and/or agents should be regulated, and nothing on whether agents should be legally compelled to keep client money in separate, untouchable accounts.

But the poll did show that most people (42.5%) think that increasing housing supply is the answer; others (21%) want to see tenants’ rights improved in line with the EU – whatever that means; a reasonably strong body of opinion (20.6%) thinks the answer is to raise taxes on second homes; but long-term tenancies aren’t seen as an option, with only 6.7% of voters wanting them to be encouraged and only 0.8% wanting mortgages to allow long-term tenancies.

Perhaps most concerning is that only 6.7% believe that all letting agents should be forced to join a redress scheme.

Redress, of course, is not the same as regulation, and a truly aggrieved tenant or landlord may not win as much as they would get in court – or have the satisfaction of seeing the agent named and shamed. 

However, as you can imagine, Property Ombudsman Christopher Hamer certainly had something to say when asked by The Guardian.

He said a decisive no in answer to the question as to whether the letting market is working.

He said: “Whilst the market is currently buoyant, there is little protection for tenants and landlords from rogue letting agents.