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Generation Rent promoting new rent freeze campaign

Generation Rent is promoting another rent freeze campaign.

In a short series of tweets, and in relation to the predicted energy price increases, the activist group says: “The scale of economic hardship that is going to be facing renters over the coming months is immense. It's important that they don't face unaffordable rent hikes on top of everything else.”

On the 38 Degrees website its petition is from Emma Johnson, described by the group as a supporter, and it says she was evicted via Section 21 and given two months notice, in which time it was “impossible [to find alternative accommodation] so I was made homeless by my landlady’s decision.”

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The petition - which contains a tick box asking if people want to be contacted by Generation Rent about its campaigns - continues: “Right now, landlords can raise the rent by hundreds of pounds per month, and the tenant has little option but to accept it. If the tenant tries to negotiate, the landlord can serve a Section 21 which can’t be challenged. If the tenant can’t pay the rent and gets into two months’ arrears or more, the landlord can serve a Section 8 notice which, again, can’t be challenged.”

The petition goes on: “The government needs to act now to tackle the cost of living crisis and protect renters who are being forced to choose between staying on top of rent and putting food on the table. To choose between living and merely existing. Only if the government freezes rents and stops these types of evictions will millions of renters finally begin to get some sense of security during this cost of living crisis.”

Generation Rent has been involved in a series of nine petitions in all on the 38 Degrees website in recent years, mostly related to landlord eviction powers and/or rent rises.

Meanwhile a Labour MP is also calling for a rent freeze.

Birkenhead MP Mick Whitley has written to Tory leadership hopefuls Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak saying that without such a measure “a moral and economic catastrophe” will unfold. 

In the letter he sets out demands of the MPs and the government, including one titled Price Controls, which says: “In recognition of the severity of the current crisis and the dire forecasts being projected by the Bank of England, a comprehensive system of prices controls one basic essential including food and rent should be introduced.”

His other demands include increasing the national minimum wage to £15 an hour “across the board”, uprating benefits, imposing an Excess Profits Tax, and radical reform of the energy market. 

His lengthy letter concludes: “I know that some will consider me naive for writing to put forward proposals that could not be more out of tune with prevailing throughout within your party. I also know that in the context of the current Conservative leadership contest, the experiences of my constituents count for little when compared to the views of your party’s members in some of the wealthiest parts of the country. But when confronted by the immediacy of the crisis and the government’s continued refusal to recall Parliament, I am left with no other recourse but to issue you both with this heartfelt appeal.”

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  • George Dawes

    Twitter the enemy of free speech and common sense

    They belong there

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    Generation Rent is directly responsible for rents having gone up by driving landlords out of the private rental sector and therefore reducing housing supply.

    If they kept quiet, rents might well fall.

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    The blanket assumption Gen Rent seems to have that tenants are all poor must be highly offensive to vast numbers of tenants.
    I do have a few tenants on UC top ups but the vast majority are earning decent graduate salaries and have ample money for both lifestyle spending and saving towards buying their own house.

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    Why it is assumed that the cost of living crisis does not affect LLs? All our costs have gone up in the last year & now mortgages are going up every month. By all means put a rent freeze on social housing where there is mandate to provide affordable housing, but a rent freeze on the PRS will just see small LLs rushing for the door even faster than they already are. I've sold 2 this year already :(

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    Absolutely right, Tricia!

     
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    I don't understand why anyone thinks a rent freeze would be a good idea. As you say landlord costs have gone up.
    I also don't understand why social rents are so much below market rent or the LHA when there is no requirement for a social tenant to be on a low income. Surely if social rents were at LHA level it would enable social housing providers to build more social housing. Anyone on a low income would get more benefit to pay the extra rent, anyone on a higher income would still be paying below market rent. Can't see there's any real losers in that situation.

     
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    Spot on Tricia, the Gen Rent morons are causing the pain, they say they want the tenants to avoid !!

     
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    My rents are all below market rate as a policy but if a rent freeze was announced I would have to put my rents up before it came in, in order not to be left too far behind. I cannot wait until tenancies change over because out tenants don't generally leave. The longest currently being 17 years. I am not sure the tenants would thank Gen Rent for an earlier rent rise!

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    I am the same as you Emily with rents and tenants whom been with me for years. My newest tenancies were in 2018 and my oldest tenancy was in 2002.

     
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    We had a green twit councillor in the local paper a couple of days ago calling for a rent freeze , so now every landlord in Norwich has been warned , put all rents up now before the rent freeze

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    Interesting, I have one house in Catton, one of the RAF married quarters. It will be going on sale early next year as I massively reduce my loan to value over the next 2 years, not that it is bad, currently sit at 58% but want it to be in the twenties.

     
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    I have an old terraced cottage in Catton, George Hill, lovely old place always rents well

     
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    Problem is, when you come to remortgage, if your rents are too low you have a problem.

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    This is what happened to me. Was told all rents had to go up by £50. However, this was after the first interest rate rise. I know they have removed the pressure test but i've now decided to keep selling and will re-look at this when I have sold 4-5 houses. One sold already and another one will come on the market in about 3 months. Waiting for tenant to leave and then redec etc before getting the for sale sign up.

     
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    Interest rates have gone up 5 times, rent has to follow or you will go out of business then we all lose out. Simple economics. GR just doesn’t understand the mathematics or hedging involved with letting houses

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    You must remember, according to GenRent all LLs are money grabbing millionaires!

     
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    Tricia - 😂👍🏻 I will check my wife’s new car to ensure it’s not a Ferrari 🚗

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    Simon

    Best check out all her cars, new or otherwise.

    Some second hand cars are worth over £100 million!

    Don't take things at face value. I've just discovered how much my wife pays for a haircut and to get her nails clipped!

     
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    Emily. I too have some long stay Tenants even 17 years as well, although Contracts re-done at various stages along the way, some haven’t had a rent increase in years, Contracts had to be brought up to date because of ever increasing legislation, they don’t know where to stop. The Tenants are not going to move unnecessarily & pay far higher Rents else where.
    At the same time I have had other Tenants that rotate very quickly to suit their circumstances, months rather than years. Outside interference like GR is the whole problem wanting rent caps that’s not justified, started off wanting longer Tenancies now wants it in perpetuity. Shelter constant interference How to Rents that was never require force in- in 2015 and changed a dozen times since adding huge costs to us, nobbled our Deposits in 2007 costing us a fortune, they failed with Private Members Bill but straight away were ready to push 2015 De-Regulation Act, Councils on the honey pot also with licensing Schemes and lucrative fines & Penalties. So we had to absorb all those unreasonable & unjustified costs, pay lenders, endless added regulation’s and maintenance costs, Ah yes please Just one more thing, cap the Rent as well, what Planet are those people on ?,

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    How about a petition to scrap section 24 before all PRS landlords sell up

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