Tenant survey reveals Scottish satisfaction with landlords

25/03/2009

Landlords north of the border are making their tenants happier than their English counterparts, new figures from the Scottish government have suggested.

According to the report, 85 per cent of tenants are either "very" or "fairly" satisfied with their rented home and their landlord's behaviour.

Equivalent figures for England collected in 2006 and cited by the National Landlords Association (NLA) recorded a satisfaction level of just 83 per cent.

Scotland's high mark comes despite the sharp economic downturn of recent months, which has pushed many landlords into negative equity and squeezed personal incomes.

In turn, this has made it more difficult for them to provide a satisfactory service for their tenants.

Kevin Still, EuroDebt director, commented: "With rental incomes falling and negative equity hitting many amateur buy-to-let landlords there is a real danger in some of the more expensive property sectors that both the landlord and tenant may be at threat where even interest only mortgage payments aren't covered by rent.

"EuroDebt is building awareness amongst residential letting agents and landlords of the need for amicable debt management solutions to allow rent arrears to be cost effectively recovered without resorting to the threat of eviction in the first instance to maintain stretched cashflows. In turn, EuroDebt is able to assist tenants with re-structuring their budgets to ensure priority payments like rent and rent arrears are met."

David Kendall at the NLA Scotland added: "We must ensure… that all landlords become better informed about the residential lettings market and about their responsibilities towards their tenants."

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