Following on from the release of their latest quarterly residential rental data for Q3 which was reported here last month, the Scottish lettings specialists Citylets have highlighted that amongst the various reforms to Local Housing Allowance payments announced by the government this year - at least one change could prove to be positive for landlords in the short term.

In March this year the Scottish government produced an impact assessment on the likely consequences of the changes to LHA within Scotland. Some of the key points highlighted that almost 55,000 households in Scotland will be impacted and could lose an average of £10 per week, mainly due to the change from the 50 th to the 30 th percentile, which was estimated to affect 45,000 households.

Dan Cookson, market analyst of Citylets said: “We do have some landlord clients that accept LHA claimants, but it is fair to say they form a small percentage of our total. We are well aware that LHA changes will have a downward pressure on rent levels for relevant property. It is too soon to quantify what this impact will be but there was some very good analysis earlier this year. Of some interest is the fact that LHA will in future (April 2013) be up-rated by the Consumer Price Index which currently is at 5.2% - a figure which is some 2% higher than current increases in Scottish average rents.”

In their recent Q3 analysis Citylets reported that the Private Rented Sector in Scotland had its busiest ever quarter in Q3 2011 and that the average rent in Scotland now stands at £670 which is an all time high and is 3.2% up on Q3 2010.

Commenting on increasing demand for corporate lets, Cookson said: “Whilst the corporate market is not near the heights of pre-2008, (landlord) clients of ours have seen a marked increase in tenant demand in this sector over the last year. They are telling us they are seeing more and more high earning professionals and families enter the market at the upper end, from their own accord, or with the help of relocation agents acting on their behalf.”

The company who have been established since 1999, produce their quarterly Trends in Residential Lettings reports based on analysis gleaned from the 60,000 properties a year which are advertised on their website www.citylets.co.uk which “has seen a 300% increase in visitor traffic from potential tenants in the last four years,” according to the company’s founder Thomas Ashdown.