Is subletting the biggest issue in lettings today?

Time to think again if you assumed subletting was a social housing problem.  The private rental sector is far from immune to unscrupulous or misguided tenants, with subletting fast turning into a silent industry epidemic.

There is a shortage of affordable rental property, especially in cities where recent graduates, young professionals and migrant workers are searching for accommodation on meagre budgets. Until the Build to Rent programme delivers a deluge of rental properties, many tenants are competing to pay the lowest monthly rent. The situation is clear: a house will be more expensive to rent than a flat; a flat will be more expensive to rent than a room; a room will be more expensive to rent than occupying a friend’s sofa.

And that’s where the problem lies. There is a keen and growing audience looking for cheap let accommodation. There is also a growing band of tenants who can see potential in the property they already let. Driven by economics on both sides, sub-letting needs no fuel adding to its fire. A tenant struggling to pay the rent may let a room in the property to cover the bills. A renter on a budget would find it hard to refuse a cheap room in a decent house. It’s easy to advertise on Gumtree or Facebook for an additional occupant or two – and who’s checking?

Subletting is illegal and very damaging. When a tenancy agreement is signed, only those mentioned in the paperwork are legally allowed to inhabit the property. Even a boyfriend moving his girlfriend in without the landlord’s permission will break the tenancy agreement and potentially invalidate any home insurance. More people under one roof will create more wear and tear, more potential for damage and more mould-inducing condensation, presenting the landlord with increased maintenance issues. And what if a brought-in secondary tenant is unhappy with the ‘makeshift’ landlord – i.e. the original tenant? Who do they complain to? Is it unthinkable that your registered tenant might even have taken a deposit from the sub-let renter? Tenants can play letting agents at their own game and it has the potential to get messy in a poacher turned gamekeeper scenario.

If you’ve dropped the ball when it comes to mid-term inspections, now might be the time to schedule some property visits. Tell tale subletting signs include more toothbrushes in the bathroom than the number of tenants specified on the agreement; evidence of sleeping in the living room and increased utility bills for landlords who have provided an ‘all-inclusive’ rental package. Subletting is costing landlords thousands of pounds: don’t let it cost you your client.

* Dave Hunt is the Business Development Director of the ARPM Group, which provides national outsourced lettings and property management services.

ARPM

Simon Duce is the Founder and Managing Director of ARPM Outsourced Lettings Support - a business designed to help small and start-up letting agents/property managers offer a full suite of property management and tenancy administration services through outsourcing.

You May Also Enjoy

Home and Living

High Quality Modular Homes for the UK

Are you looking for added accommodation space in your garden / on your land? Modular Living Homes by tutumHOUSE offer a new way to live – minimalist in form, rich in experience. “There are approximately 9.6 million homes in the UK with a garden shed, and around 52% of the population owns one.” asgardsss There…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

The most stressful places to move to in the UK

With more people in the UK moving homes during summer than any other season and the average cost of moving in the UK rising to over £14,000, picking the right place to move to has become more crucial than ever. Luckily, new research from Pay Less for Storage reveals the UK cities that make life easiest…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Time-Traveling Estate Agent Sequel Climbs Amazon Charts

A UK Estate Agent Currently Bringing Joy to People’s Lives – Shame He’s Fictional…   Eric Meek, the fictional estate agent created by author Dale Bradford, is back for a second outing in The Time‑Travelling Estate Agent 2, a sequel that is already climbing Amazon’s bestselling time‑travel rankings. Estate agents were recently highlighted as the third…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Is it finally time for lenders to back green homes?

Andrew Smith weighs the risks and rewards Property developers are increasingly pitching green homes to lenders; however, with sales cycles slowing down and repair costs rising, is now the right time to back sustainable builds and at what price point is there market demand? Sustainability is continuing to shape our future of construction with the…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 24/07/25

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   OpticWise – digital infrastructure in commercial real estate If your building were a product, how would it perform on the user experience scale?  Week 9: Experience as Infrastructure – Designing for Human-Centric Buildings Welcome to Week 9 of our 52-week journey into the future…
Read More
new build homes colchester essex
Breaking News

UK Housebuilding Falters as Construction Hiring Flatlines

New research from Inventory Base reveals that UK construction industry employment has increased by almost 11% in the past five years, but there has been less than 1% growth in the past 12 months. Inventory Base’s analysis of the UK construction industry shows that in 2024 (latest data available) it employed an estimated total of…
Read More