RENTAL sector tenants need to find £36 a month more typically than they did a year ago to cover the cost of a roof over their head, a report has found.

The average monthly private sector rent across England and Wales stood at £806 in October, edging down by £10 from a record high of £816 in September, according to an index from estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains.

Despite the market taking a pause for breath, the typical monthly rent is still £36 higher than in October 2014, when it stood at £770. Across the course of a year, the extra cost for tenants would add up to £432.

In the South West, the average rent per month now stands at £677, down 2.1 per cent on last month, but up by 3.3 per cent on last year.

Elsewhere, two regions saw average rents jump to new record highs in October. In Yorkshire and the Humber, rents increased to a new high of £552, while in the East Midlands they reached a new record high of £604 per month on average.

In London, average rents are 10.7 per cent higher than they were a month ago, at £1,287 a month.

After London, the East of England has seen the next steepest annual increase in rents, which are sitting 8.9% higher than a year ago, at £835 a month on average.

However, the North West of England, Wales and the South East have seen average rental costs fall over the last year.

Wales has seen the biggest year-on-year fall, with a 6.7 per cent decrease taking the average rent there to £535 a month.

Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Reeds Rains and Your Move, said "peak lettings season" - the time of year when many students are looking for new accommodation and graduates are searching for somewhere to live in order to start a new job - has now passed.

This means there may be more room for some tenants to negotiate a deal.

But with buying a home still being an "unrealistic stretch" for many tenants, demand in the sector remains high and properties are letting "like hot cakes", he said.

Mr Gill continued: "Just to pay the rent, the average tenant needs to find an extra £36 every month than they did a year ago. That equates to a reasonably-priced meal out for two, or a good proportion of the weekly shop for many households.

"So while consumer price inflation is negative and the price of certain goods is falling, for plenty of tenants that might be a slightly moot point."

The report also found that tenant arrears have improved for the second month in a row in October, representing 7.9 per cent of all rent due. This compared with arrears representing 8.6 per cent of all rent in September and 9.9 per cent of rent being late in August.

But tenants are more likely to be late with the rent than they were a year ago, with just 6.9 per cent of all rent being in arrears in October 2014.

The report is based on rents achieved on around 20,000 properties across England and Wales.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said: "We're determined to create a bigger, better private rented sector and are attracting billions of pounds of investment to build homes specifically for private rent, which will increase choice for tenants.

"Furthermore, we want to ensure that anyone who aspires to own their own home can turn their dream into a reality, with Government initiatives helping more than 230,000 people to buy since 2010."

Here are the average monthly rents across the regions in October, with the change compared with the previous month followed by the annual change, according to figures from Your Move and Reeds Rains:

  • London £1,287, minus 1.1%, 10.7%
  • East of England, £835, 0.7%, 8.9%
  • South West, £677, minus 2.1%, 3.3%
  • Yorkshire and the Humber, £552, 0.3%, 1.5%
  • North West, £606, minus 0.1%, minus 0.3%
  • Wales, £535, minus 0.3%, minus 6.7%
  • South East, £794, minus 2.5%, minus 2.7%
  • North East, £521, 0.4%, 0.3%
  • West Midlands, £589, minus 0.6%, 4.5%
  • East Midlands, £604, 0.1%, 5.7%