One In Five Households Private Rent - Survey

One in five households in Northern Ireland live in private rented accommodation, according to a new survey.

The Family Resources Survey showed the number of people buying their own homes has dropped by 12 per cent over the last ten years.

Nicola McCrudden, Chartered Institute of Housing Director for Northern Ireland said: "More would-be home-owners and social tenants are being squeezed into renting privately, which could push rents up causing further housing stress. This is unlikely to change unless we build more homes and people can access an affordable mortgage.

"With more people calling privately rented houses their homes, we need to make sure that every tenant has a good quality home which is professionally managed. While standards are generally good it's not the case throughout the sector and we are still seeing tenants at the lower end of the market living in unsatisfactory conditions.

"Some of our members have experience managing hundreds of private rented properties over decades – they tell us that licensing could be helpful to build on professional and well-managed private rented housing."

(CD/LM)