Less than one-third of households in the private-rented sector are there by choice, a survey published on Monday finds. The “tenant sentiment survey” from the housing charity Threshold finds the majority (71 per cent) are renting because they cannot get a mortgage to buy a home or cannot get social housing because there isn’t enough available. Some 45 per cent spend nearly a third of their take-home pay on rent, with 14 per cent paying more than half their earnings on rent. Almost half (47 per cent) said they “felt insecure in their tenancy”, and one-third (31 per cent) had had their rent increased in the previous 12 months. Some 65 per cent of these said their rent had increased in excess of the 4 per cent permitted under the “rent pressure zone” caps.

Source: The Irish Times June 10, 2018 22:52 UTC