More than a third of renters spend money doing up their landlord’s property and nearly one in seven fork out more than £1,000, a new study found.

Research by SpareRoom found that 34 per cent of tenants have paid for upgrades to their rental properties.

The flat-sharing website said one in five choose to do so as they cannot afford to buy their own home.

It found that people spending more time at home because of the pandemic and rising house prices were the leading reasons for such spending, as 79 per cent of those who spent money on their rental properties only began doing so in 2020.

Decorating and buying furniture were the most popular home improvements, with almost half of renters spending their money on it.

For those who had not spent any money on their rental homes, 13 per cent said they would do so if their landlord offered them a longer-term tenancy.

Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom, said: “It’s not surprising that people want to make their rented properties feel like home, given how much time they’ve spent at home over the last two years.

“As people rent for longer, we may well see more and more tenants wanting to have a say in how their properties look.”

“What’s interesting is that more people would be tempted to spend money doing up their rental property if they were offered a longer-term tenancy,” Mr Hutchinson added.

“In some European countries tenants can decorate their rentals however they like, but shorter tenancies in the UK mean people have traditionally been more reluctant to spend on a property they may need to move from in a year’s time.”