The leader of the Generation Rent activist group says that the shortage of homes to rent means no private sector tenant is safe.
Addressing a conference called by London Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan this week, Baroness Alicia Kennedy - director of Generation Rent - said: “When rents are rising on new tenancies, no private renter is safe. It is too easy for your landlord to demand a higher rent when they know they can evict you and re-let to someone else who is willing to pay it. People who don’t want to move are being priced out of their homes and forced to compete in this hellish market. And the cost of living crisis is making it even worse.
“The government can alleviate rising living costs for renters immediately with a freeze on rents on existing tenancies and suspension of Section 21 evictions so landlords can’t evict simply to re-let at a higher rent.”
Also at the conference was the head of policy for the Advice for Renters organisation, Jacky Peacock. She said: “Private renters are among the hardest hit as the cost-of-living crisis deepens. Most are struggling to pay unaffordable rents for properties that are often in poor condition and hard to heat.
“They face the stark choice of huge energy bills or a cold home with all the health risks this entails. Renters were promised a reform of the sector in December 2019. Three years’ later, they are still waiting. The Government really must take action now.”
Khan’s conference had no representatives of landlords or lettings agencies - they were not invited - but the event heard various claims of how badly off London was in comparison to other parts of the UK, or even the world.
Khan told the event that the average advertised London rent was £2,343 a month – a figure he took from Rightmove - while he claimed this was £1,000 more than the average advertised rent in the South West, £1,300 more than in the East Midlands, and £1,564 more than in the North East.
He cited examples of how, for £2,500 a month, you could rent a six-bedroom Grade II family home in Birmingham or a five-bedroom house in Liverpool with an electricity and gas allowance For £1,750 a month, you could rent a five-bedroom detached house in Wolverhampton, while in Burnley a three-bedroom terrace house is just £750 a month.
He even claimed that for £454 less than the monthly average advertised London rent, you could move to Cyprus and rent a five-bedroom villa with a sauna, private pool, and two-car garage.
Khan has long advocated getting the power to institute a rent freeze and he claims that over two years this would save private renters an average of £2,988.
“The fact that 40 per cent of Londoners think that they will struggle to make their rent payments in the next six months shows the scale of the housing crisis in London” explains the Mayor.
“London’s private renters are facing a triple whammy with rising rents, bills, and the cost of household essentials putting a major strain on their finances. Ministers must take this crisis seriously and act now.
“There is no time to waste so we have come together today to speak with one voice. Our demands to ministers are simple: implement your long-promised renters reform legislation and take action now to make rents more affordable for Londoners, using all powers at the government’s disposal.
“As we continue working to build a better, fairer London for everyone, it’s vital that we stand up for renters in our city and find common ground on the action that needs to be taken to support them through the cost of living crisis, pay their rent and keep their homes.”
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I would love to live in a large mansion, out in the countryside, with a 2 acre garden pool etc. But I can't afford it so I can't have it.
When will Generation Rant realise that it is their lobbying which is causing the high rents and lack of supply.
Never.
Dogma doesn't let facts get in its way!
They’re correct, no renter is safe ! …. Because we are sick and tired of being sheared like sheep, yes we will evict, but not to re-let…. TO SELL. Then let us see your followers find a place to stay.
Generation Rent I hope you are happy with yourselves the damage you are doing to Tenants looking for some where to Rent.
It's ridiculous to compare London rents with other parts of the country.
A great many jobs in London have an additional London weighting premium on the pay, London has a viable public transport system so a car and parking payments are unnecessary, the LHA in London is far higher than in other parts of the country, etc.
Rents in any part of the country are purely down to supply and demand. Any property that is priced too high either won't find a tenant or will have a tenant changeover every 6 months ,which will result in more voids and overall lower income from that property.
No renter is safe! That is simply scaremongering. Decent LLs do not evict tennts to rent out at a higher rent & most LLs are decent.
The single biggest use in costs for most people this year will be their heating yet apparently everything is the fault of LLs.
Without a LL voice at his event Khan's meeting has no validity. They were just a self affirming group with no real understanding of why there are problems and the very large part they are playing in it!
Alicia Kennedy and Generation Rent are talking more rubbish again.
The reason they keep spouting rubbish is it keeps them and their quango organisation going, there's no real thought to renters.
Jo. Have to disagree in part on this one. A car or van is essential, London is grinding to a halt with restricting, 20 MPH. Roads Blocked off. Roads Narrowed. Traffic Creating Schemes. Congestion Charges, ULEZ yes public transport is wonderful when they are not on strike but in any case only suitable for digital academics or people doing administrative type employment. The people doing real work needs independent transport all this other stuff is incidental to real work, if you don’t have real workers you’ll be all pressing key boards to each other and nothing will ever happen.
I agree our rents are higher in London but not proportional higher by any means rents might be one and half times higher or double but our property purchase is certainly many times higher and so is stamp duty and regulation’s, 4 times I had to re-license most of mine very expensive I understand other parts of UK haven’t done any yet, if you want to talk about Central London then you can start doubling everything again.
Anyway Jo unfortunately it’s a disaster Budget for us all regardless of what part of the UK we are in just a nightmare.
People who choose to live in London pay the London rate, London always has been an expensive place to live
That’s true Andrew but we didn’t used have Sadiq Mayor Khan bleeding us dry with his ridiculous nonsense, plus £400.00 out of every c/tax bill .
My comment wasn't aimed at you Michael, it was aimed at those that whinge that they cannot afford London rents, go find something else to rent in a cheaper area
When we chose to live in London we didn’t have £15.00pd Congestion Charge or ULEZ @ £12.50pd and £30.00 approx for parking part of the day or 20 MPH to give you 3 Points on your license or HMO licensing you see they have move the goal posts we didn’t choose London for this.
Not just moved the goal posts, completly changed the game.
I have one lucky tenant. I pay their heating bill!
He might not be feeling that lucky when you increase his rent to cover the extra cost
I have one who is also lucky, I refused to update the heating board in one property, the council wanted £3000 to update it so they could charge by the unit. No as a result the tenant payees a set daily rate, with unlimited heating and hot water. The tenant was moaning about paying £2 a day over the summer, now she isn’t saying a word!
Yes Andrew. There is a single central heating system for a large block of flats. I've recently been told the system is 25 years old and is going to be replaced. God knows what that is going to cost me.
My post regarding the hate propaganda from the hate gangs has been censored clearly this site is under the control of generation rent ,shelter etc
It would be interesting to know how much other content has been censored
TIME FOR A SITE THAT IS NOT UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE PERPETRATORS
A comment of mine about what UC is spent on has also been removed, just re entered it, lets see how long that stays
Punitive legislation has caused a shortage of rental properties, so the noble Baroness's solution is...... even more legislation including rent controls.
Perhaps she should speak to her SNP cronies who are already two steps ahead - with fixed term tenancy agreements banned and now a rent freeze - to see how "successful" this has been for beleaguered tenants?
On second thoughts, she shouldn't bother as she'll only be told what she wants to hear anyway!
What did the lesser known Physicist Albert Einstein say…. The definition of madness is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result…. Maybe Shelter and their cronies should do some reading.
The punitive legislation has been very successfully from a government point of view. The idea of all this legislation and other Regulation is to drive out Private Landlords for Their friends the Big Boys to take over make no mistake, if they wanted to get people housed the last thing they would be doing is getting rid of private LL’s who supply it.
Simon, I don’t know about Albert Einstein’s theory but some times you can keep doing the same thing again and again and get a different result have you a son and a daughter, we still have to have a sense of humour or we’ll all be go mad.
Some of our comments are definitely being removed. Time to unsubscribe.
I agree with previous comments, what reasonable landlord evicts a good tenant only to have to suffer void period, admin and marketing costs and then accept the risk of an unknown new tenant. It’s just not worth the hassle.
Of course, it’s all theoretical as in Scotland we can’t evict without a valid reason anyway.
I've noticed that, and for no good reason
9 MONTHS to ONE YEAR for a Possession Process
(appears all tenants are given 5 months more, to appeal, if they ask)
COURT SAYS IT AIMS TO OPEN AN EMAIL
OR LETTER WITHIN 80 DAYS
(delay increasing)
GET OUT : BEFORE THEY REALLY START TO HURT LANDLORDS
DON'T MOAN LATER... 'THE WRITING WASN'T ON THE WALL'
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