About this survey

The statistic on our homepage comes from a survey RentStory ran in October 2026 with UK renters, recruited through Prolific.

We asked renters whether they had ever moved into a rental home with a problem nobody had told them about before they moved in — for example damp and mould, a broken boiler, constant noise or slow repairs. 8 in 10 respondents said they had.

The survey is a snapshot of renters' experiences rather than a representative poll of the whole country, so treat the figure as a signal, not a precise national measurement.

Questions? Email hello@rentstory.co.uk.