Threshold survey finds ‘deteriorating’ sense of security among renters

Owning a home is becoming a more distant dream for renters, according to a new survey by housing charity Threshold, with two-thirds of clients saying affordability had shut them out of the property market.

The survey of 212 renters who had sought help from Threshold found, while 62 per cent aspired to buy a home within the next five years, just 28 per cent felt they would be able to afford one.

The percentage of people who are renting because they cannot buy their own home has increased from 49 per cent in 2020 to 64 per cent in 2022, the charity’s annual tenant sentiment survey shows.

John Mark McCafferty, Threshold chief executive, said it was clear tenants’ feelings of security in their accommodation had “deteriorated” in the last two years. Mr McCafferty said the crisis in the rental sector was being felt across all income ranges, family types and ages.

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Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they were renting because they were unable to afford to buy a home. One in five said they were in the private rented market as they were unable to get social housing, while 14 per cent of those surveyed said they rented by choice.

More than 70 per cent of people aged between 25 and 34 said they were stuck in the rental market as they were not able to afford to buy a home.

Some 44 per cent of people in all categories said they did not feel secure in their current tenancy, with one-parent families reporting the highest levels of insecurity in their rented accommodation.

Half of those surveyed said they had been in their current rental accommodation for less than two years. One in five tenants said their rent had been increased in the last 12 months.

The most common reason tenants said they had left their previous rented home was as the landlord had decided to sell the property. Only a fifth of respondents said they left their previous tenancy by choice, the report said.

More than four fifths of tenants said they had found it “extremely difficult” to find rental accommodation, with respondents often citing the high cost of rent and shortage of rental housing as the main problems.

The report said damp and mould were the most common problems with rental properties reported by tenants, followed by issues with the heating. A fifth of tenants reported feeling their rental accommodation was overcrowded.

Just under half of respondents stated they were paying more than 30 per cent of their wages on rent, with one in ten people putting more than half of their wages towards rental costs.

The report said meeting the cost of other essentials such as food and household bills was toughest for those earning less than €20,000 a year. However, it added a third of respondents earning between €30,000 and €40,000 also said they were struggling to make ends meet after paying rent.

The interviews for the survey were carried out between February and April 2022, among people who had previously sought help from Threshold about their rights as tenants.