Activists in Generation Rent have repeated once again their call for a rent freeze and yet another eviction ban. 

“Rents have been surging since offices and universities opened back up last year, and more people moved back to cities than there were homes available. Now landlords are trying to raise rent on existing tenants knowing that if they can’t afford it, it won’t be hard to find a new tenant” says Dan Wilson Craw, the group’s deputy director.

“This is unsustainable, particularly for the 39 per cent of private renters who rely on Local Housing Allowance which has been frozen. With rising food and energy prices, renters will get ill, go hungry and fall into arrears, risking eviction and homelessness. 

“To avoid this catastrophe, we need a freeze on rents and a pause on evictions for the duration of this emergency, and an increase in Local Housing Allowance.”

Wilson Craw was responding the official figures from the Office for National Statistics showing that – contrary to data from Zoopla and others pointing to double-digit rental inflation in the past year – the typical private sector rent rose only 2.7 per cent in the 12 months to April. 

Meanwhile new government figures reveal that 18,626 eviction claims were made to court by landlords between January and March 2022, up by 32 per cent on the previous quarter; of these, 5,890 were Section 21 claims, which were up by 63 per cent on the previous quarter and 41% per centhigher than the same period in 2020.

Claims for eviction for other reasons by private landlords also increased, totalling 6,316 claims in the first quarter of 2022 – up by 11 per cent on the same period in 2020.