Landlords have hit back at claims made by Shelter overnight, suggesting that one in seven private tenants in the UK have had their rents incr3eased in the past month alone.

The Shelter claim – which is based on unspecified research by the charity – has drawn a detailed response from Chris Norris, policy director for the National Residential Landlords Association.

He says: “At a time when inflation is so high and landlord costs are rapidly increasing, the latest official data shows that average private rents across the UK have gone up by 3.4 per cent over the last twelve months. 

“This shows that most landlords are prepared to bear the brunt of rising costs to keep tenants in their homes when they can.

“There will be cases where landlords are simply unable to shoulder all the increased costs and need to increase rents accordingly. 

“Where this causes difficulties, particularly for tenants on low incomes, the government should end the freeze on housing benefits. Even before the sharp rise in inflation, the level of benefits was failing to reflect the cost of rents as they are today.

“Further increases in rents will also be driven by a chronic shortage of homes for private rent. This is a direct consequence of government action to discourage investment in the sector. Ministers need urgently to develop pro-growth policies to ensure supply meets demand in the rental market.”

Shelter’s dramatically worded claim went on to suggest that one in three tenants are spending at least half their household income on rent. 

It then claims that almost 2.5m renters are either behind or constantly struggling to pay their rent, a figure which has rapidly increased by 45 per cent since April – just a few months ago.  

The charity adds that even before the cost-of-living crisis, private renters were paying the highest housing costs compared to people in social housing or with a mortgage. It warns that unless the government helps those struggling to pay their rent, a huge surge in homelessness is inevitable. 

It is urging the government to stop what it calls “this ticking timebomb” by unfreezing housing benefit, “which is lagging way behind rents, having been frozen at 2020 levels.”