The number of tenants in serious rent arrears fell in the final quarter of 2015, reversing some of a deteriorating trend seen throughout the earlier parts of 2015.
According to the latest figures from Your Move and Reeds Rains, 1,500 households have moved out of serious rent arrears, a 1.5% quarter-on-quarter improvement.
There are now 82,900 households behind on more than two months’ rent, down from 84,200 in the third quarter.
However, on an annual basis the number of tenants in serious rent arrears remains 19.5% higher than in the same period in 2014.
The latest total still represents just 1.6% of tenancies across the UK private rented sector, compared to a peak proportion of 2.9% of tenants in the first quarter of 2008.
Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains, said: “Private renting is still absorbing thousands of extra households every month – housing millions more than just a few years ago. As this tenure of housing and this way of living grows, affordability is the issue that goes hand-in-hand with questions of capacity.
“An individual tenant is still extremely unlikely to fall into serious rent arrears. In fact the proportion of renters getting seriously behind on payments has dropped considerably over the longer term. But absolute numbers are now going the right way too. With fewer people at risk from more serious consequences of struggling to pay the rent, this is great news.”
In the fourth quarter there were a total of 26,676 court orders issued for the eviction of tenants, down marginally by 0.4% compared to the previous quarter.
Cases of landlords falling behind on their own payments are also falling. In the fourth quarter there were 5,500 examples of buy-to-let mortgage arrears, down by 3.5% from 5,700 in the third quarter.
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