Younger people will have more difficulty finding rented accommodation as a substantial proportion of landlords actively cut back on renting to under 35s.
Although nearly all landlords are willing to rend to under 35s, many are changing their strategy to ensure that they have security of rent payment according to a major piece of research commission by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA).
The research found that 79% of landlords who let to under 35s cited the higher risk of rent arrears as a reason for reducing the numbers in this category that they took on as tenants. Two thirds of landlords will not let to under 35s on housing benefit and 44% will not let to students.
Four fifths of landlords who continued to let to housing benefit tenants had put in place additional safeguards, the most common being the use of guarantors or asking for direct payment to the landlord.