When considering a property to let potential renters place most importance on cost, followed by location, then whether it has a garden, new research from landlord insurance specialists Cover4LetProperty, carried out by Usurv, has found.
The cost of a property was the biggest influence for 71 per cent of renters while location was next on the list of priorities at 60 per cent. The desire for a garden was most relevant for 34 per cent of people.
One in five respondents (21 per cent) said they would choose a property based on the landlord, with the decor and ease of parking being important to around a quarter of renters.
There were differences with these preferences between the genders, however; 65 per cent of females said that having a garden is just as important as the cost compared to 76 per cent of males who were focused solely on the cost – with just 9 per cent concerned with whether the property has a garden.
Nearly a third of male renters (33 per cent) said that getting on with the landlord was important compared to just 6 per cent of females.
When asked how many rented properties they have lived in during the last five years 53 per cent said they had lived in 2-3 properties (an almost equal split between males and female renters); 43 per cent of male renters had stayed in the same property for five or more years, compared to unsettled females – 29 per cent had not moved in five or more years while 18 per cent had lived in four or more properties in the last five years (compared to 5 per cent of males).
Overall, 81 per cent of the renters questioned tend to have long term rental agreements (more than 6 months) and 31 per cent hope to buy their own property within the next few years.
Richard Burgess, Director at Cover4LetProperty, commented: “It is interesting to read about what tenants actually want and what they feel is important to them. With more and more people being priced out of buying their own home, renting is still on the rise. Hopefully this snapshot will give landlords some food for thought about marketing their properties because, as we can see from the research, for some, it doesn’t simply come down to the price.”
