Article content provided by Michelle Monahan of County Property Management, Newbury.

The UK is in “dire need” of good quality rental accommodation, according to a survey conducted by The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) at this year’s annual conference for the lettings industry.

The poll, designed to assess the state of the Private Rented Sector (PRS), revealed some very telling results.

More than half (58%) of respondents at the 2010 ARLA annual conference highlighted the issue of insufficient supply of rental stock as the biggest issue facing the sector.

Ian Potter, operations manager at ARLA, said: “This is a very serious issue. At the end of last year we highlighted that a lack of properties will be a defining factor in the housing market in 2010 and our member agents across the country have confirmed this opinion as fact.

Michelle told us at The Best of Newbury that, "during the first quarter of 2010 there was a dramatic increase in quality tenants looking for rental property and as a result we had the best January, February and March ever.  During this period we also had less new landlords purchasing new rental properties.  The net result is there is a shortage in available properties"

So, whilst this is great for Michelle's business and many of County Property Management "Let" boards can be seen around the Newbury area as evidence of this, the situation inevitably presents a whole new set of challenges.

Ian Potter, from ARLA continued to comment on the outcome of the survey by stating:

“The UK is in dire need of good quality rental accommodation to counter the lack of broader housing supply across the country and the PRS needs tangible Government support to help achieve this. This should be in the shape of incentives for improvements on older properties, assistance for landlords in gaining mortgage finance and regulation to drive unethical letting agents out of the industry."

So, there's never been a better time for landlords with good quality properties available to rent to enter the market.

If this is you or you know of someone considering this as an option, then please contact Michelle at County Property Management on 07831 388481 who will be able to answer any questions you may have and pass on the benefit of her experience and expertise.

And, if the rental property market is affecting you then why not tell about it and have your say?