Join the demo against unethical Bristol letting agent!
You may have seen this letter going viral on Twitter:
A Nation of Renters: the latest report from Citizen’s Advice
Today, the Citizens Advice released a report, A Nation of Renters, which explores the doubling of the private rented sector over the past decade and its failure to adapt to the needs of renters.
Calling all renters in Hackney!
Do you rent from a private landlord in Hackney? If so, this blog post is for you! Hackney Council are currently conducting a consultation into the private rented sector in Hackney, reviewing their offer of services for tenants and landlords. As part of this, the council is considering whether a discretionary licensing scheme might be introduced.
What Labour’s stamp duty ‘holiday’ really means
The latest announcement from Labour is that first-time buyers will be given a ‚Äòholiday’ on stamp duty for homes purchased under £300,000. With the average house price in London standing at over £460,000 it is clear this policy will only be applicable outside of the capital.
Is Government covering up the housing crisis by cutting the English Housing Survey?
The Department for Communities and Local Government is currently consulting on how they can scale back the English Housing Survey, effectively sweeping the housing crisis under the carpet.
The EHS is a continuous survey that provides an annual and comprehensive data set on the stock conditions of housing in this country and the nature of our housing market, measuring characteristics like tenure for example.
Demand a Queens Speech on Housing
The dust is settling after the General Election and the government finds itself with a new ministerial team and a precarious majority. None of the manifestos offered a coherent solution to the housing crisis, but Generation Rent is committed to making it a priority for the new government.
We have offered them a strategy which will jump-start the house building industry and create a fair deal for people renting. Our “Queen’s Speech on housing” is sponsored by CWU Youth, the youth network of the CWU Trade Union.
The housing crisis cannot be fixed without proper leadership, effective regulation, a commitment to wean the country off rising house prices and investment in public housing. Our demands include a position of Secretary of State for Housing, protections for tenants when their landlord wants to sell the property, and a system of rent control and tax on landlords which would raise money for a public house building programme.
Our proposals are published as a poll from Survation finds that 63% of private renters want to leave private renting in the next five years but only a third of those think it’s likely to happen. That means that out of the UK’s 4.75m private renter households, 1.95m find themselves stuck in an unsuitable tenure.
House prices remain as high as ever
Today the ONS released its latest House Price Index, showing UK house price inflation to the end of October 2014. Really, not much has changed. Whilst inflation has slowed a miniscule amount, falling from 12.1% in the year to September to 10.4% in the year to October, this is still a worryingly high figure for those struggling to buy their first home. Indeed, once seasonal adjustments have been taken into account, inflation has actually risen by 0.1%.
Halifax Report: Generation Rent
Halifax’s annual Generation Rent report came out today, and the main finding is how renters are becoming resigned to their fate.
There were some positives with the highest number of first time buyers for 7 years, although we are a long way off the levels of half a million seen in 2002. However, there is little improvement in how potential first time buyer view their chances – with 79% of 20-45 year olds believing that banks don’t want to lend to first time buyers and 21% believing it is virtually impossible to obtain a mortgage.
What are the parties offering renters?
All five main UK-wide parties have now published their election manifestos. I took a trawl through them to dig out their plans for renters and the wider housing market.
Longer tenancies: busting some myths
Earlier this week we launched a campaign to improve security of tenure for private renters.
Achieving this is going to entail hacking through a thicket of special interests. Where it’s not the landlord replacing tenants every six months, it’s letting agents who want their annual renewal fee, or mortgage lenders demanding easy access to the property if the landlord does a runner.
Even deposit protection schemes – government-licensed organisations which supposedly exist to protect tenants – are throwing up roadblocks to reform by spreading misinformation.