Activists who until last week were focussing their campaigning on demanding the publication of the Renters Reform Bill have now announced their new anti-landlord message.

The London Renters Union – part of the Rental Reform Coalition, led by the Generation Rent group – has launched the SafeHomesNow campaign, claiming unsafe housing has a major health impact one residents. 

It launched the campaign last evening in east London demanding a local council “increase enforcement against private landlords letting out dangerous housing so that no one faces another winter of damp and mould.”

Newham’s Labour controlled council claims one in five private rental properties in the borough – equivalent to 8,000 homes – present a serious health hazard. 

The LRU, in a campaign launch statement, says: “While properties remain in poor conditions, this hasn’t stopped landlords raising rents. Although Newham has one of the highest levels of poverty in London, median monthly rents are now up to £1,550, a massive 62 per cent of incomes.”

LRU members are calling on Newham council to invest in housing safety by expanding its enforcement team, and by taking more proactive enforcement action against landlords who it says are “profiting off of unsafe accommodation.”

A spokesperson for the London Renters Union says: “Nobody should get sick or become injured because their landlord is failing to undertake basic repairs. At a time when rents are skyrocketing to record highs, it is outrageous that any renter should be forced to forfeit half their income for dangerous housing. 

“There is a huge power imbalance between renters and landlords as the threat of ‘no-fault’ eviction still hangs over the heads of anybody challenging mistreatment. We are calling on Newham council to side with renters and take a proactive approach to tackling dangerous housing to ensure no one faces another winter of damp and mould.”

The LRU also cites two case studies. One claims that they were left with “life-altering injuries after a damp roof collapsed on top of me when I was living in temporary accommodation. The landlord got away with it, seeing no consequences.”

The other says: “Our kitchen ceiling collapsed after almost two weeks of the agency and landlord ignoring our repeated warnings of a growing damp patch. I had left the kitchen a few seconds before, only to hear a terrifying crashing noise behind me. The man who came to repair it said we could still use the kitchen and just put some tarp over the hole, leaving us waiting for it to dry. We had no idea whether it was safe.”