Starter homes: a £27bn raffle
The government wants to eliminate Generation Rent. I think they’re talking about the demographic group, rather than our organisation. They want to replace us with Generation Buy. How cute.
Sadly, their plans so far will do nothing to reverse the growth of renting and will exacerbate the rising level of inequality between people who own their homes and those who don’t.
The government’s flagship policy is Starter Homes. The scheme will help 200,000 private renter households into home ownership with a 20% discount on the market price of a new home. The trouble is, if you’re not in one of the lucky 200,000 – that’s 4 million – you won’t get a discount. You also won’t get to share £26.8bn of profits when you sell your starter home – read our analysis here.
Guest post: attitudes to rent control in Ireland
In an effort to increase transparency and help Irish voters make an informed decision in tomorrow’s general election, we have contacted all election candidates and asked them to say where they stand on a range of issues, including rent control. All candidates’ answers (or the answers provided by their party in some cases) are publicly available on the website www.whichcandidate.ie. Voters can also answer the questions and see which candidates they agree with in their constituency.
We asked candidates whether there should be tighter controls on rent, and candidates are almost evenly split on this question. 43% (188 candidates) said that rent increases should be capped in line with inflation; while 44% (193 candidates) said that current controls on rent were adequate. (The remaining 13% of candidates were either opposed to any controls on rent, or selected none of these options.)
Save £100s with our new resource for flathunters
If you happen to be planning a move to (or within) the London boroughs of Croydon, Ealing, Tower Hamlets or Waltham Forest, then we might be able to save you a few hundred quid.
Volunteers in these areas have compiled a comprehensive list of local letting agents and their tenant fees at www.lettingfees.co.uk.
Tower Hamlets Renters have used their research to name and shame local agents
A lifetime of renting for more of us?
A flurry of news reports in the past week have told many of us what we’re already thinking: more private renters are facing a lifetime of renting.
First, the Resolution Foundation said that, in ten years’ time, 90% of under-35s on modest incomes will be renting for life.
Then, PwC said 40% of Londoners will be renting from a private landlord by 2025.
And today, the government-commissioned English Housing Survey found that 57% of private renters expect to buy their home – down from 61% in the previous year’s report.
Will the Lords or London’s next Mayor strengthen renters’ rights?
Renters never really know where they’ll live in 12 months’ time. Even if your landlord is a charity, charging reasonable rent and letting you turn their property into a home, they could quietly sell up to a landlord who will just evict you and sell your home to the highest bidder.
Spinning the roulette wheel
If you ever wonder why we as a nation are “obsessed” with home ownership when people happily rent for life in Germany and the Netherlands, consider the number of ways you can lose your home as a renter.
Even if you pay the rent on time, take care of the property, and learn your neighbours’ names, you can be forced to move if the landlord decides to sell up, raise the rent to a level you can’t afford, or just doesn’t renew the tenancy.
A new poll from BMG finds that 27% of current and former private renters have experienced an unwanted move.
London is a ‘mare for renters
LONDON NEEDS A MAYOR FOR RENTERS
Today, with 100 days to the London Mayoral election, we have launched www.votehomes2016.com, as the place to go if you want to know who is promising what to fix the city’s housing crisis.
Join our campaign for fairer tenancies
This morning, the local community in Herne Hill stopped bailiffs from evicting a 69-year-old private tenant from her home of seven years.
Her landlord, Manaquel, served her with a no-fault eviction notice which gave her no option but to move out or sit and wait to be forced out by the bailiffs.
After a notice to quit, a possession order, and a warrant from the court, the bailiffs arrived today at 9:30 to be met by 20 neighbours and local campaigners who sent them on their way.
Housing & Planning Bill: the good bits, the bad bits, and the silence
The Housing and Planning Bill has been announced and is making its way through the Commons. The government is using the legislation to drive through some major changes that threaten to weaken social housing and harm the poorest members of society.
But they’re also embarking on some much-needed changes to the private rented sector which should help to root out illegal practices and improve renters’ homes.
The Bill is silent on security for renters. At a time when millions of us have no option but to rent privately, we need to start having some protection from eviction on a landlord’s whim: today we launched a petition calling for this. Please sign it and help us persuade politicians to give everyone a stable home.
Don’t let mess get in the way of your deposit
This is a guest post from Joanna White of Property Principles. To write for our blog, please contact us.
Moving house is stressful enough – finding a suitable flat, packing up your things, trying to avoid paying double rent for too long. And then there’s the question of whether you’ll get your deposit back.
According to the Tenancy Deposit Service, 56 per cent of deposit disputes are about cleaning. Many of these end with tenants losing all or most of their deposit. It’s in everyone’s interests to reduce the number of cleaning disputes. Here are my tips for avoiding disagreements when you hand over your keys: