Over three-quarters of UK renters are concerned about their ability to pay rent

We conducted the survey to help landlords better understand renters by asking them about their recent experiences, biggest concerns and plans for the future.

As one of the most informative surveys to come out of the lettings industry in recent years, it offers landlords valuable data and insights which will be extremely useful when planning for the year ahead and further into the future. Landlords need to know the profile and intentions of their customers to be able to provide what they want and market properties well.

Following a prolonged period of legislative uncertainty and various external factors affecting both landlords and renters, the rental market is rapidly evolving, so it's crucial to understand how renters feel about the future of renting.

The survey, conducted by HomeLet with Dataloft, found that over three in every four renters feel that cost-of-living increases will have a moderate to significant impact on their ability to pay the rent. One in four renters ranked this as their top concern in the next year, closely followed by worries about landlords increasing rent.

Those who share a rental property are the most concerned about paying their rent (85%), compared with couples (75%), single people (78%) and families (79%).

The data also revealed that one in four renters (25%) rank the potential inability to pay rent due to the cost-of-living crisis as their top concern in the next year.

Inflation, which includes fuel, food, clothing and energy bills, is at its highest rate for 40 years and is currently exceeding wage rises, meaning many renters are set to feel the squeeze. The average renter loses around a third of their monthly salary (30.6%) on their rental payments, ranging from 22.7% in the North East to 34.9% in London.

Read the full report to see all the insights and data in more detail.