London’s renters face job-style applications for a home as lettings market shrinks

With looming legislation from the Renters’ Rights Bill and other regulations, Winkworth estate agents are seeing a new level of scrutiny facing tenants, as landlords select people who may be renting for the long-term.

As the rental scene shifts, Winkworth agents are also seeing tenants saving up for forever homes and multi-generational US renters moving into prime areas such as Notting Hill – with grandparents, parents and children choosing to live close to each other.

Rupal Patel, who runs Winkworth’s Brook Green and Shepherd’s Bush offices in West London, told the latest episode of Winkworth’s Property Exchange podcast: “Landlords  now know that potentially the letting could be for two or three years plus and  so tenants are submitting CV-style applications. We've even got tenants submitting family photos  to make their offers as appealing as possible. It’s like a job application as the rental market is shrinking and demand from tenants remains high.”

Lucinda Richardson, lettings director at Winkworth’s Notting Hill office, told the podcast: “We are having to deal with the unknown of what the detail of the Bill is really going to look like. When our landlords are entering into a new tenancy, we need to look forward to where we could be in a year's time with a tenant in place. And there's now the licensing of properties, which is coming in across a lot of boroughs. Landlords definitely feel unsupported.”

“A lot of landlords are selling up across prime central London and across London, as they shift their focus to areas with less tax and fewer issues, “ added Charles Erwin, who also highlighted a new trend of multi-generational renters from the US coming to London. He told the podcast: “We've seen across prime central London a lot of younger generation Americans, who have moved across for jobs and then they've ended up staying here. What we've noticed is their parents have moved here to rent to be close to grandchildren and their own children. With stamp duty as it is, we are also seeing  UK tenants renting for longer, as they save up for a forever home, rather than moving two or three times.”

Lucinda Richardson echoed this: “In Notting Hill, people are coming over from America,  families wanting to be closer, hands-on grannies effectively as well. It’s so important now, particularly supporting working parents. We're seeing long-term clients where we're looking after the second and third generations, which is great.”