How ethical are Britain's landlords?

Contrary to popular stereotype, Britain's landlords are largely an ethical group according to research released today by Saga Home Insurance. In a poll of UK adults, 77% of tenants rated their current landlord as "good" or "excellent", with just 8% giving a "poor" rating.

The research also revealed the top gripes experienced by both landlords and their tenants. Tenants were most likely to complain about hard-to-reach landlords (23%), poor quality tradesmen used for repairs (21%) and refusal to fix broken items (17%). Landlords meanwhile were more likely to complain about late rent payments (38%), damage to the property (32%) and even tenants who vacated the property with little or no notice (20%).

Despite the vast majority of landlords believing they are always ethical (72%), more than half of tenants (56%) said that their landlord should to do more to help them. Many landlords understand the value of responding to tenant enquiries more quickly (55%), or having home emergency cover that the tenant can call upon 24/7 (32%). However just 19% believed they should provide alternative accommodation when a property is made uninhabitable by an insured event such as flooding or fire – something which tenants would find very reassuring and they would get as standard with a Saga policy.

To provide guidance in this area, Saga Home Insurance has released a free Guide to Being an Ethical Landlord which offers insight on the benefits of being an ethical landlord, as well as advice on how to become one.

Sue Green, Head of Home Insurance, Saga says: "Disagreements between landlords and their tenants are well documented so it is refreshing to see that landlords are, for the large part, ethical and well-liked by their tenants. During what has been a tough economic climate, landlords' reputations have suffered and as our research shows, unfairly so."

"This doesn't mean that more cannot be done which is why we have released our guide providing practical advice to landlords to help them improve their ethical credentials. Anyone who is a landlord should consider whether there might be more that they could do to make things easier for their tenants, which will be beneficial to all involved."

To download the free Guide to Being an Ethical Landlord, visit saga.co.uk/insurance/landlord-insurance/guide-to-being-an-ethical-landlord.aspx