It’s been another incredibly busy year for Generation Rent. Renters have faced the worst rent inflation and evictions for many years, but we are closer than ever to a fairer renting system in England, and we’ve had a few more campaign successes along the way.
2024 in numbers
- Number of private renters: 4.66m households – up from 4.60m last year (England)
- Rent inflation: 9.1% – up from 8.7% the same time last year (UK)
- Wage growth: 5.2% – down from 7.2% the same time last year (UK)
- Section 21 evictions: 32,130 court claims to the end of September – up from 28,804 for the same period last year (England)
- Homelessness cases following private tenancies: 80,730 households in 12 months to June (England)
- Private renters relying on benefits: 1.98m households getting Universal Credit or Housing Benefit (GB)
What happened this year?
The central story of the year was the slow progress, and eventual demise, of the old government’s Renters (Reform) Bill, then, after the election, the relatively rapid progress of the new government’s Renters’ Rights Bill.
The new Bill is better for renters than the old one, but there are still improvements we want to make, including fairer limits on rent increases, relocation relief for tenants evicted to allow their landlord to sell or move in, and measures to make it easier for tenants to take action against landlords who dodge the rules.
So far, we’ve had one debate in the House of Commons and the Committee Stage. MPs will debate the Bill one more time in the New Year, and then it will go to the House of Lords. Ask your MP to back our demands.
During the General Election we ran a campaign to get renters registered to vote. We estimated that 1 million private renters eligible to vote weren’t registered at all – and many more drop off the register when they move. We’ll be publishing the results of our work in the new year.
Renters relying on benefits got a boost in April, when Local Housing Allowance was increased in line with rent rises between 2019 and 2023. However, despite our warnings, the new government has frozen rates again and because rents have kept rising this year, the situation will deteriorate again and push more renters deeper into difficulty.
In March, our long running campaign to stop loopholes that encourage landlords to evict tenants and let to tourists ended in victory, with the then Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announcing the scrapping of mortgage interest tax relief on holiday lets. There is still more to do to help local areas control tourist accommodation and make more homes available to locals.
Unfortunately, the Chancellor also cut capital gains tax on buy-to-let properties, without protections for the tenants who ended up getting evicted by landlords selling up.
In August, we saw some positive changes for refugee and migrant communities. First, the new government announced that they would closing the Bibby Stockholm barge, which had been used as accommodation for people seeking asylum. We were also glad to see the government scrap the “British workers” social housing allocation plan. The plans, dubbed “British homes for British workers”, would have changed the ways local councils allocated council homes – potentially making it harder for migrant people and refugees to access them. These changes were planned, despite government figures showing that 90% of lead tenants in social homes are British citizens. Read more here.
We also saw developments in the devolved nations, with Scotland publishing plans to bring in permanent rent controls, and a Welsh Senedd Committee backing our proposed eviction protections for tenants.
More from Generation Rent
As well as the developments in the corridors of power we published several pieces of research on the state of renting and what the government needs to take account of next.
- Rent affordability is not affected by landlords buying or selling, but how many homes get built
- Most rental listings on Facebook are probably scams
- Renters who have faced Section 21 evictions and unaffordable rent rises have worse mental health
- Students are having it tough, with unaffordable rents and applications to hardship funds still above pre-pandemic levels
- Despite the lessons of the pandemic, key workers struggle to afford the rent in many parts of the country – see our data analysis and collaboration with UNISON
- The temporary accommodation crisis continues to worsen. Generation Rent research uncovered the strain that the old government’s approach to homelessness had on local councils and communities.
- We’re currently working on projects on tenancy deposits, with our supporter survey shedding light on some of the issues that need tackling.
Finally, it has been a big year for the organisation, hitting our 10th anniversary in March. If the events of 2024 aren’t enough for you, have a read of what’s happened over the past decade!
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