48% Of Tenants Would Like To Withhold Rent Over Repair Delays

Tenants wrongly attempt to

blackmail landlords over repairs

Private rental sector tenants are wrongly taking matters into their own hands and attempting to withhold rent from landlords over delays resolving emergencies like heating and electrical faults, according to new research by HomeServe.

The figures show that 1 in 3 PRS tenants have faced emergency repairs over the last 12 months,  with boiler faults and other central heating problems the most common.

Of those, 11% took the wrong action, attempting to withhold rental payments because they claimed that the landlord had taken an unacceptable length of time to deal with the repairs, and 48% of tenant respondents said they would also be willing to withhold rent should the need arise.

• 1 in 4 problems take landlords more than a week to repair
• 34% of private tenants have faced a home emergency in the last 12 months
• 1 in 10 tenants who have had a home emergency withheld rent
• 1 in 2 tenants would be willing to withhold rent if necessary to expedite repairs

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