Rented sector maintenance costs in the UK total £30bn a year, according to the latest data from Help me Fix. 

Of the 29.7m homes in the UK, almost half (10.6m) are rental homes. The split between private and social enterprises is around 50/50, with some 5.6m privately rented properties compared to 5m socially rented homes, owned by housing associations and local councils.

The cost of maintaining a property each year sits at roughly 1% of the property’s value. 

With the current average house price hitting £278,436, this means annual maintenance costs total £2,784 per property for private and social landlords and management companies. 

Apply this to total rental stock and Help me Fix data shows that the current annual maintenance cost for the UK rental market is £29.7bn a year: £15.6bn for private stock and £14.1bn for social stock. 

On a regional basis, London has the largest annual rental maintenance bill at £9.7bn. 

In the South East, annual rental market maintenance costs total £4.8 billion, with the East of England (£3.1bn), the South West (£2.7bn) and the North West (£2.4bn) also home to some of the largest annual maintenance bills in the UK rental market. 

Help me Fix founder Ettan Bazil says: “Ongoing maintenance can be a sizeable outgoing when it comes to managing a rental property, but it’s also a necessity and ensures that the accommodation provided to private and social residents is fit for purpose and above board.”

“Not only is the monetary total enormous, but the time and effort that is being spent completing these works is also a full-time commitment, particularly for management companies who are responsible for a large number of rental homes.”

“For social housing, in particular, this is time and resource that could otherwise be put to better use, so it’s lucky that we live in an age where technology is disrupting old-fashioned maintenance methods.”