A charity claims that private renters are about twice as likely as the general population to be in problem debt.
StepChange, via an opinion poll survey, claims that the number of private renters in problem debt has risen sharply from 800,000 people in January to 1.1m people this month. In addition over 1.2m private renters – equivalent to 17 per cent – are using credit to make ends meet.
And two thirds of tenants whose rent has increased say this has had a negative impact on their mental health.
StepChange also claims that private renters struggle with the affordability of their homes more than any other housing tenure. Average monthly private rent payments were found to be almost double those in the social sector, and 39 per cent more than average mortgage payments, while 78 per cent of private tenants who receive housing support say that support does not cover all of their rent costs.
The charity is calling on government to go further than those elements contained in the recently-published Renters Reform Bill and “increase funding to help struggling PRS renters who face acute affordability pressures, fall into arrears or cannot meet one-off costs such as house moves.”
It also wants an increase in housing benefit “to cover the real cost of rent” and enforce “affordable repayment plans” are put in place for at least some tenants in arrears.
A StepChange spokesperson says: “Everyone deserves to live in a house they can call home, but this is becoming increasingly out of reach for a growing number of private renters. Against the backdrop of a frenzied rental market, where bidding wars, sky-high deposits and rising rents are commonplace, those who are financially vulnerable are often left with no choice but to take on unaffordable, insecure, poor-quality accommodation just to keep a roof over their heads.
“The government’s Renters’ Reform Bill will rightly withdraw landlords’ rights to carry out no-fault evictions, but there is more to do to protect those who should be in socially rented accommodation but have no hope of accessing it. Unless we see benefits that cover the real cost of renting, alongside strengthened rules that protect financially vulnerable tenants who fall behind on their rent, the cycle of debt and housing insecurity will be doomed to repeat itself for millions of people.”
