Beleaguered tenants face rising rents, according to the latest report from ARLA Propertymark.

The trade body for letting agents said that the number of agents who recorded a rent increase stood at 35% in August, the highest it’s been since July 2015.

Only 2% of tenants successfully negotiated a rent reduction last month, a drop from July 2017, when 2.5% managed to lower their rent costs.

Supply and demand

Contributing to rising rents is the fact that rent stock decreased last month while demand grew. Agents managed an average of 189 properties last month (compared to 192 in July), while they registered 72 new tenants.

ARLA members also saw an average of three properties sold by landlords in August, unchanged from the previous three months.

David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark, said: “This month’s findings paint another bleak picture for tenants. In November last year, only 16 per cent of agents saw landlords increasing rent costs, but that figure now stands at 35 per cent – which is likely to continue rising.

“Landlords have had a rough ride at the hands of policy changes at Government level, and it’s becoming clear that these additional costs are now being passed onto tenants.”