Making deposits work for tenants
One reason the housing market is so stacked against renters is the high cost of taking our business elsewhere, so one of the ways we can make renters more powerful is to make moving house easier.
As our research site lettingfees.co.uk discovered, a typical household could save £404 when they move once the letting fees ban comes in. But a bigger cost – in the short term at least – is the damage deposit worth up to six weeks’ rent.
We estimate that 86% of renters get most or all of their deposit back, but only after they’ve already moved into a new home, so achieving that involves raiding their savings, or borrowing money.
That’s why today we’re calling on the government to start allowing renters to transfer part of their deposit to a new home once they’ve paid the final month’s rent.