High demand for rental properties

In Nottinghamshire tenants are competing for limited rental stock. The situation is exacerbated by the changing nature of this generation of renters. No longer the temporary territory of young people on the road to home ownership, renting is becoming popular across the generations and with families as well as single people and couples.

The market is also witnessing a demand for rental properties with higher specifications a demand which is currently cutting across the demographic of renters. This demand, coupled with a shortage of stock will, according to Adam Kingswood of Kingswood Residential Investment Management continue to keep the Nottinghamshire rental market buoyant and thus will buck the downward decline in other regions.

Adam comments: “The London market has been overheated for some time as rental prices relative to incomes are staggeringly high for ordinary people. The average rental price in the capital is £31524 compared with a UK average of £3908 and an East Midlands average of £3614.”

“However, where the Nottingham market is becoming somewhat like London is the level of demand. We are seeing multiple applications for each property and I predict that we will soon see sealed bids being used as a fair way of selecting tenants. This is a practice used by London letting agencies for some time. We very often receive multiple tenancy applications for one property from extremely similar applicants leaving our landlord client with very little or nothing to differentiate when deciding which party to proceed with.”

A fairer system?

The system of sealed bids may be fairer to all parties in a busy rental market. £0 If introduced, the practice would represent a major shift in Nottinghamshire where the market is not used to the process. For tenants, it may seem that the process of sealed bids is a system to extract more rental whereas in fact it’s a process that helps to prevent gazumping and makes the system fairer which benefits the tenant and the landlord.

Adam adds: Not always with the highest rental bid secure a property. Landlords are keen to protect their property investments by securing the best tenants which is why the sealed bid process gives potential tenants the opportunity to specify why they would be the ideal tenant as well as naming their price.”

Whilst for the sealed bid system may sound onerous, given the high demand within the Nottinghamshire market, it could soon be a question of when, rather than if sealed bids become commonplace. £0