"It is obvious that renters up and down the country feel let down by their estate agent"
According to the survey, 40% of UK renters – equating to 7.21 million people – dubbed the marketplace “ruthless and unethical” with agents allowing gazumping to become a commonplace practice.
37% say the current rental system is not fit for purpose as it cannot cater to the demand and speed of the market – rising to 50% in the capital. Furthermore, 37% of renters feel they have been misled by an estate agent regarding the competition they faced from other renters. Over three-fifths (61%) of Londoners state that their estate agent was guilty of this.
The report also revealed that 38% of UK renters believe they were knowingly advertised properties that were not actually available and 31% feel they lost out on a property because the estate agent had preferred relations with another prospective tenant.
With around 4.3 million rented households across the UK, a huge number of people are evidently disillusioned by the rigmarole of securing a property through high street estate agent. In total, 40% of renters said they think the process of securing a rental property is ruthless and unethical, enabling people to gazump other prospective tenants with unscrupulous practices.
Fareed Nabir, founder and CEO of LetBritain, commented on the findings: “Today’s research delivers some revealing insights into the opinions of generation rent. It is obvious that renters up and down the country feel let down by their estate agent – from luring them in with properties that aren’t available to misleading potential tenants about the competition they face, the country’s rental population is suffering at the hands of questionable practices. Clearly a faster, fairer and more transparent system is required to alleviate the time and stress involved in securing a rental property.”
