Unwanted private rental moves cost around £550m per year, with renters spending an average of £669 in “unrecoverable costs” for every forced move.
According to research on forced private rental moves from Shelter, which analysed YouGov figures, there were around 830,000 unwanted moves in the last year.
It added that around 40% of all renters surveyed said that their last home move was forced and not their choice.
The analysis noted that 245,000 renters had to move in the past year due to fixed term tenancies that had come to an end, and 61,000 were priced out by a rent increase.
Approximately 190,000 were served with a legal eviction notice and 135,000 were informally asked to leave by their landlord.
Unrecoverable costs include paying rent on two properties at once, with the average cost coming to £8,000, and paying bills for two properties, which is an average of £245.
Loss of earnings to view properties, loss of earnings while moving house and removal van hire cost on average £200.
Cleaning costs are on average £100, replacing furniture is an average of £400, and one-off fees, including WiFi installation, come to around £50.
The report added that, in addition to unrecoverable costs, there were other upfront costs from forced private rental moves, such as rent paid in advance and tenancy deposits, with average upfront cost of each move rising to £1,245, or over £1bn in total.
Renters ‘continue to pay a heavy price’
Shelter warned that the Renters Reform Bill being watered down, such as delaying the ban on Section 21 eviction notices and reintroducing a form of fixed term tenancies, would mean renters “continue to pay a heavy price”.
The charity is urging the Government to use the third reading of the bill to bolster the bill and resist amendments that would limit its effectiveness.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Tenants are coughing up millions in unwanted and unwarranted moves, while the Government runs scared of a minority of its own MPs. Instead of striking dodgy deals with backbenchers to strangle the Renters Reform Bill, Ministers should defend renters’ best hope of a stable home.
“With protections from eviction so weak and rents so high, we constantly hear from people forced out of their homes and communities at huge personal cost. It’s impossible for renters to put down roots knowing a no-fault eviction could plunge them back into chaos at any moment.
“With the bill’s third reading imminent, it’s now or never for the government to make good on its promise to deliver a watertight bill. It must resist spurious attempts to sneak fixed term tenancies back in, and to indefinitely delay the ban on no-fault evictions. England’s 11 million tenants will remember all too well who fought for them when they finally head to the ballot box.”
