According to the survey, 21 per cent of tenants say they’ve had a bad level of communication with their landlord and 25 per cent of tenants also say it takes their landlord over five days to respond to problems they’ve reported, with the same number saying their landlord hasn’t fixed urgent problems at all.
Both figures, representing respondent complaints from the East and North East of the country, are the highest in the UK.
However, many landlords feel they are being exploited by irresponsible tenants, with two in five reporting having had troublesome renters. On average, two thirds of landlords said they have had tenants default on rent or not pay on time, while four out of five have lost money due to unpaid rent over the years.
Total Landlord Insurance also revealed that almost one in ten tenants say they do not have a formal tenancy agreement or contract in place for the property they are renting. Almost a third of landlords say they are unaware of their legal requirements as a landlord, which is being attributed to the surge in accidental and first time investor landlords of recent years.
Eddie Hooker, CEO of Total Landlord Insurance comments:
“We revealed the results of our study on the first episode of letyourproperty.tv at the end of April, with the aim to offer some practical advice to both landlords and tenants. Landlords need to put in place standard operating procedures so that each party know where they stand when issues arise.
"It was particularly staggering to learn that more than half of landlords do not even have rent guarantee insurance on their properties which is one of the greatest landlord grievances.”
