Activist group Generation Rent has produced a report in tandem with a trades union, focusing on key worker tenants – and it says “workers demand bolder solutions to the rental crisis.”

The report, produced with UNISON, is based on a series of ‘roundtable’ conversations conducted by Generation Rent and involving the union’s members. “All names have been changed to protect the participants’ identities” says the activist group.

The 28-page report consists largely of selected quotes from participants, and concentrates on what it claims to be a situation in which “landlords in England are able to easily evict their tenants with Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions or through unaffordable rent increases.” 

It also says that: “A constant fear of being unfairly evicted and facing homelessness, huge proportions of wages going towards the rent, poor and dangerous conditions, and terrible treatment from people shirking their responsibilities as landlords and letting agents.”

And the union and activists say now is the time to listen to renters and “fight” – with a new government being the perfect opportunity.

The report makes eight recommendations, which follow long-standing Generation Rent demands:

1. Legislate to permanently ban Section 21 no-fault evictions, and improve stability for tenants by introducing open-ended, permanent tenancies, longer eviction notice periods, and safeguards to prevent tenants from being unfairly evicted from their homes when they are not at fault. 

2. Introduce rent controls which work to address soaring rents and prevent ‘no- fault’ evictions carried out using rent increases. 

3. Regulate the application process of new tenancies, including a ban on so-called ‘bidding wars’, which artificially inflate rents further. 

4. Require private landlords to complete repairs within a statutory timeframe in accordance with new basic standards to make homes decent in the Private Rented Sector. 

5. Adequately resource local councils and introduce a tougher and more comprehensive enforcement regime for councils against criminal landlords and letting agents. 

6. Introduce a better benefits system which works not to discourage people from working more hours and supports tenants to pay the rent and cover other costs. 

7. End the hostile environment policy, including Right to Rent checks and no recourse to public funds, which limit renters’ access to safe and secure homes. 

8. End the Right to Buy in England, and build more genuinely affordable housing, especially council and social rented housing, to guarantee the availability of social housing for people on low to modest incomes, including retirees who struggle to afford private rents.