With renters in popular areas facing intense competition for homes, many are increasingly finding themselves pitted against each other in bidding wars.
Housing campaigners have welcomed plans for new laws to ban the practice in England – but are warning more action will be needed to tackle unaffordable rents.
Jason Phillips had been living in his flat in Crouch End, north London, for 10 years when his landlady decided to sell up.
He spent more than a year looking for somewhere new to rent in the area. But despite going to around 40 viewings and having a good salary as a business analyst, he kept losing out to other applicants.
In one case he was told a two-bed flat on the market for £1,800 month had gone for £2,500, after someone offered £700 over the asking price.
“It’s frustrating,” he says. “It made it not only unaffordable for me, but if I’d known that was going to be the price range I probably wouldn’t have even gone to see it in the first place.”
With at least a dozen prospective tenants viewing some of the properties, Jason said several estate agents had actively encouraged him to bid higher than the advertised price to give him the best chance.
Eventually Jason, 60, gave up and reluctantly moved to Stevenage, Hertfordshire, where it was easier to find somewhere within his budget and he was closer to work.
“I’d got to know my neighbours and I’d built up a lot of friends,” he says. “I miss [Crouch End] and I would love to go back.”
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