We recently asked our supporters this question, inviting them to share their ideas for simple, practical changes that could make renting better.
This call came as part of the new Small Ideas Initiative, a cross-party initiative founded by MoneySavingExpert’s Martin Lewis, which invited the general public to suggest practical, low-cost changes that could improve everyday life across the UK, including housing.
The initiative aims to turn people’s everyday frustrations into actionable policy proposals that can be put to the Government.
For the ideas to make the cut, they needed to be:
- Practical, a solution, not just a complaint.
- Do-able, it must be something that could realistically change.
- Relatively inexpensive – if costs too much, government, regulators, or councils won’t do it.
- A widespread issue, whether it could help millions of people a little or thousands of people a lot
- And crucially…hard to disagree with.
We believe private renters are best placed to identify the everyday problems with our housing system, and how they could be fixed. Alongside five ideas developed by us at Generation Rent, we also submitted five ideas from our supporters in to the initiative.
Ideas from Generation Rent
- Make it easier for renters compare the true cost of renting a home by including energy and council tax costs in the upcoming Private Rented Sector Database. This would make it easier for us to compare the cost of running different homes and more a more informed decision about which homes offer the best value for money.
- A service that helps renters stay in a home that’s being sold. A government website that matches up tenants facing evictions because their landlord is selling with landlords who are in the market for tenanted people, would help us avoid unnecessary evictions and remain in their homes. This was a big problem identified by supporters who responded to our call-out.
- Penalise landlords who make exaggerated tenancy deposit claims. Some landlords make excessive or unjustified deductions from tenants’ deposits without any consequence. While renters can dispute these, many of us feel pressure to settle for less than we’re entitled to. Introducing fines for landlords and letting agents who repeatedly have large deposit claims rejected by deposit protection schemes would discourage this unethical practice.
- Allow renters to arrange repairs and deduct the cost from their rent. Too many of us struggle to get our landlords to carry out necessary repairs. Giving renters a clear legal right to arrange repairs ourselves and deduct the cost from their rent would give us a quicker and more straightforward way to get essential repairs carried out in our homes.
- Nudge recent movers into updating their voter registration. Moving home is stressful and updating our voter registration details when we move can be easily overlooked. This particularly affects private renters, who move more frequently than any other tenure. By adding a simple option to update electoral registration when people change their address through other public services, such as updating their driving licence or council tax details, saving us time and helping to make sure we can still exercise our right to vote.
Ideas from our supporters
- Create an app for reporting repairs and hazards. An app where we can upload photos/videos of disrepair in our homes will help us log all communication with landlords and letting agents, and hold them accountable for addressing problems in our homes.
- Introduce a disability passport. Renters with disabilities can face significant administrative barriers when trying to access support, often having to repeatedly provide the same information and complete lengthy forms. Introducing a disability passport, which would be a single document setting out a person’s needs and required adjustments, could be shared with housing authorities and other relevant organisations making it easier for people with disabilities to get the support they need.
- Introduce a ‘Home MOT’ for rental properties. When viewing a property, we often have limited information about its condition beyond energy efficiency assessments, so a national Home MOT database would involve regular, independent assessments of rental properties against a set criteria relating to decent housing standards.
- Prevent discrimination against unrelated people wanting to share a home in an HMO. Some landlords advertise properties as available only to families, potentially to avoid getting an HMO licence, making it harder for us to find affordable homes to rent together.
- Make photographic inventories mandatory for rental properties. Disputes over tenancy deposit deductions are common, particularly where there is little evidence of a property’s condition when we first move in. By making it mandatory for landlords and letting agents to provide dated photographic inventories will create a clearer record of the property’s condition and help prevent unfair deposit deductions for pre-existing damage.
The Small Ideas Initiative will assess submissions against its criteria, with policy experts considering how these suggestions could be turned into working policies. A cross-party panel will then select a final set of ideas to put forward to decision makers.
A huge thank you to everyone who shared their ideas with us. We’ll be keeping an eye on the initiative’s progress to see if any of our ideas get taken forward.
