When asked if they are happy with their landlord, 80% of tenants told researchers that they were.
In the survey undertaken by Paragon Mortgages, the tenants also revealed their fears that their landlord may end their tenancy for nearly half of them much sooner than their agreement runs for.
Three quarters of tenants said they were renting a property because they could not afford to buy a house and 40% said they have no plans whatsoever to buy property and were resigned to living in private rental accommodation.
The managing director of Paragon, John Heron, said: “The survey reveals that for many people, living in private rented accommodation is increasingly attractive for the long term.
“This reflects the issue of affordability in housing however best practice and competition are pushing up standards for tenants.”
He added that their survey has also revealed how important the UK’s private rented sector is to the housing market but it still needs to mature before catching up with its European counterparts.
Tenants satisfied with affordability and standards
Mr Heron said: “There is room for growth in the sector with tenants satisfied with affordability and standards.”
The survey revealed that the average length of a tenancy is now 12 years and 41% of landlords said they had seen growth in tenant demand in the previous quarter.
The survey revealed that 81% of tenants are satisfied with their landlord and 66% declared that their home was ‘very good’ or ‘good’ value for the rent being paid.
The survey also revealed that tenants are paying an average of £660 a month for rent which accounts for 32% of a tenant’s income – and 32% said they struggled with paying their energy bills.
Around 40% of tenants had seen a rent increase over the past year while 13% had seen their rent decrease over that time.
Worryingly, 15% of respondents said they had rented from a rogue landlord previously.
Landlords reveal how long it takes to build a buy to let property empire
Meanwhile, the National Landlords’ Association (NLA) has revealed that it takes landlords nearly 20 years to build-up a property portfolio consisting of more than 20 properties.
It will take a buy to let landlord less than 15 years to build up a 10-strong property portfolio.
The NLA says the figures underline the importance of landlords preparing and planning for their property futures though not all landlords are keen to expand with the average landlord owning between two and three properties.
