Is your sex letting you down? Over half of UK landlords care about the gender of their tenants

Finding a place to rent can be hard enough but what if your sex was a deciding factor in whether you get your foot in the door of your potential new pad? According to our survey, over half of UK landlords care about the gender of their tenants.

Asking 885 landlords, we discovered that the sex of a tenant was a genuine concern for 57.4% of respondents. Our founder and CEO James Davis comments:

"Who's the better sex - men or women is probably one of the oldest debates in the book. Like it or not, gender can sometimes be a deciding factor in whether a person makes the cut even in the rental arena. In our survey, we really wanted to see if the sex of a prospective tenant actually matters to landlords and from our research it appears that it does."

When asked "who makes the best tenants?" it seems that gender stereotypes still apply with one respondent explaining:

"Men make better tenants. They can (usually) change light bulbs, they know how the central heating works, and they're more likely to carry out minor repairs than women. Men are more easy going, they take care of the small things - generally they just want a roof over their heads."

Meanwhile, speaking in favour of female tenants one respondent commented:

"On average, females are tidier which means less maintenance. Females also seem to like their outside space being picturesque and generally do more in the garden - cutting the lawn and keeping it tidy. Females are also more in control of finances then males, I find I get on time payments from female tenants and they are also more likely to stay put."

A landlord himself, Davis remarks,

"Based on our findings it seems that the majority of landlords have a gender preference with the typical typecasts of men being good at general maintenance and women being clean and tidy still very much in association. However, what was interesting was the fact that while men and women can be penalised for various different reasons, it seems singletons are in the firing line as well. When we asked landlords "who makes the best tenants?" a number explained that they were more in favour of couples as both parties fulfill certain jobs in the home."

In relation to this, one respondent noted:

"Both genders have their pros and cons but ideally I prefer couples as tenants. You often find one is good at keeping things clean and tidy and the other is good at sorting out the little things. Also, couples tend to be the best long-term tenants particularly if they have a child. I just tend to avoid sharers in favour of couples."

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Thursday, August 9th, 2012
Written by Simon @ Upad Filed under Finding Tenants, Property Rental , gender