Generation Rent and members of the Renters Reform Coalition handed a letter into 10 Downing Street today to urge Boris Johnson to end unfair evictions for good in 2022 and announce a Renters’ Reform Bill in next Tuesday’s Queens Speech.

A quarter of a million landlords are letting families live in homes that are so expensive to heat they are illegal to let out. We estimate tenants in properties across England to be spending £321 million more this year on energy bills than they would if their homes met basic standards.

Renters struggling with rising energy bills should be protected from higher rents. We are calling for a ban on rent increases alongside six other proposals we believe will ease the crisis for renters nationwide - including a pause on evictions to stop tenants facing homelessness. 

Here’s something you probably didn’t know.

If your landlord wants to raise your rent to a level you don’t agree with, and you can’t negotiate a compromise, they must issue you with a Section 13 notice. And as a tenant you can challenge this notice by applying to the First Tier Tribunal for a rent assessment.

In this, the first episode of the Generation Rent podcast, Sophie Delamothe, Generation Rent’s Policy and Public Affairs Manager, chats to Niki Nixon, the Head of External Communications at the Electoral Commission, about all the things you need to know in order to vote at the local elections on 5 May.

Sophie and Niki discuss how to register, what to do if you lose your polling card, how to vote if you are self-isolating, and much more. If you want to find out more about the Electoral Commission then you can visit their website here. 

This will be the first of hopefully many podcasts produced by Generation Rent. If you have a story you would like to share on the podcast or want a particular topic covered in a future episode then contact Will at [email protected] to discuss your idea. 

From tomorrow, 1 April, the cap on energy prices increases by 54% - the largest since it was introduced. This will affect anyone who is on a variable tariff. The changes are slightly different for people on prepayment meters – just 14% of the population, but more likely to be private renters.

The price rises are a result of increased global demand for gas towards the end of last year, which is pushing up costs of heating our homes and also the electricity that is generated in gas power plants.

The war in Ukraine started after the increased price cap was announced, so the even higher wholesale gas prices arising from the conflict are not yet reflected in the new cap. We're expecting a further increase of a similar magnitude on 1 October. 

Here are twelve things to know as a private renter.

After an eight-year campaign, today we heard that the government will bring in a register of landlords in England as part of its levelling up agenda. 

The Times reported this morning that the Housing Secretary Michael Gove will also raise minimum standards that private rented homes have to meet in line with those in the social sector. The Mirror has also covered the story - you don't have to register to read theirs.

2021 is coming to a close and what a year it's been. Before we finish up for the holiday season, we thought we would round up our highlights of the year.

Private renter evictions have been dramatically increasing since the Government ended the last of the Covid protections in June.

Evictions are on their way to hit their pre-pandemic levels and so households and families around the country are once again being forced to move over the Christmas period.

Generation Rent supporter John describes just how terrible an unfair eviction during the Christmas period is.

In October we were given eight weeks notice to leave our family home of eight years. Never have we missed a month's rent. We pride ourselves on being good tenants who keep our home well looked after - but none of that matters. We must be out by Christmas Eve.

I have spent about a decade renting in the private sector. This covered my time as student through to working full time. Sometimes I’ve been tempted to try to work out how much I’ve actually spent on rent during the ten years, but I haven’t dared do it as I’m sure the answer would just be too depressing. For me, renting has meant fighting to get deposits back, pleading with letting agencies or landlords to get basic repairs carried out, having to leave a property a short notice as it was being sold, and being trapped in a cycle of fees and ever increasing rents. My longest period at a property was three years, and the shortest was six months

CW// Sexual Offences

Sex for Rent is a crime whereby an individual offers accommodation at a reduced cost or for free, in exchange for sexual acts. This arrangement can be enacted at the outset of a new tenancy, or enforced during a tenancy, often when tenants experience difficulties in paying the rent.

A 2016 Shelter survey found that 8% of women had been offered a Sex for Rent arrangement at some point in their lives. However, only one person has ever been charged in a Sex for Rent Case, and only as recently as January 2021.