Rental crisis driving huge increase in self storage use, claims BBC
Evictions, downsizing and spending months finding a new property to rent are driving more tenants into the arms of self storage providers, the You and Yours programme has highlighted.
An investigation by the BBC into the UK storage industry has revealed the increasing role of the sector within the rental market.
The You and Yours programme which was broadcast yesterday revealed how rising rents, evictions and downsizing are driving a surge in demand for storage facilities while many wait to find a larger – or just their next – home.
One storage provider told the programme some tenants who had been evicted were storing their belongings for up to nine months while they found another home.
Rennie Schafer, boss of the Self Storage Association, told the programme that the use of self-storage had changed significantly recently and said that it was a ‘home away from home’.
And he’s not joking – the Big Yellow Storage Company, which is one of the market leaders in the UK, advertises itself on Rightmove within the portal’s ‘Properties to Rent’ section and is listed as an ‘agent’ with 105 locations.
Schafer adds: “People are also going through renting and housing changes and it is taking longer for renters to find new homes and they’ve got to put their stuff somewhere,” he said.
Housing campaigners agree, but are not happy that storage firms are making significant profits from the housing crisis.
Metaphor
Ben Twomey, Chief Executive of Generation Rent, told The Guardian: “Homes are the foundations of our lives, so a storage container might be the perfect metaphor for how government inaction is leaving renters out of sight and out of mind.”
Some agents have already spotted an opportunity to make referral fees and one, NW agency Pearson Ferrier, refers its sales and lettings movers to a local firm, Irwell Self Storage, which charges between 50p and £3.50 a day for a unit.
