Rental arrears ease

The FT has just reported that a fifth of private- residential landlords have had tenants in rent arrears over the last 3 months.

The report based on research by the National Landlords Association indicates that 24.5% of landlord reported a problem with rent arrears in the first quarter of 2010. The average amount of outstanding rent now averages around £800 compared to around a £1000 at the start of the year.

I suspect that this figure does not represent an accurate picture across the private rental sector. The reason for this. NLA are probably basing their research on their relatively small membership of fifteen or so thousand landlords. Many of these have large portfolios.

It stands to reason that if you have 100 properties there is a good chance that you will have one missed payment across your portfolio during a 3 month period.

It just shows that statistics even when they feature in the FT can be misleading.

If I'm wrong with my assumption I'm sure that this will be pointed out with impressive alacrity by the NLA.

Reference my tenants