London Mayor calls for private renting summit

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The Mayor, who has been calling for rent controls for some time now, is calling again on the Government to freeze rents in London. He says renters are now facing multiple crises from escalating rents, insecure tenancies and unsafe homes.

Based on a recent polling by YouGov, which found that some 40 per cent of London renters think they will be unable to meet their rental commitments in the coming months, the London Mayor Sadiq Kahn is calling on the Government to act now. He wants the Government to protect renters who he says are increasingly at risk of losing their homes

The Mayor is to host an emergency summit on private renting to bring together private renters, charities, advocacy groups and politicians to encourage a call to action, urging Government Ministers to tackle the capital’s rental crisis.

London rents are now approaching £2500 per month, that’s over twice the level attainable in other parts of the UK, yet London renters says Kahn are increasingly at risk of losing their homes.

London’s renters are facing multiple crises from escalating rents, insecure tenancies and unsafe homes the Mayor argues. Kahn and sector leaders are joining a call to action, urging Ministers to immediately implement long-promised renters reform legislation to give renters the security and safety they so urgently need and to take action to make rents more affordable for Londoners.

According to a Rightmove comparison, the average advertised rent in London is £2,343 per month. At this level this is £1,000 more than the average advertised rent in the South West, £1,300 more than in the East Midlands, and £1564 more than in the North East.

One example provided by GMC shows that, for example, for £2,500 you could rent a six-bedroom Grade II family home in Birmingham with a sprawling garden or a five-bedroom houses in Liverpool with an electricity and gas allowance.

Alternatively, another example shows that for £1750 a month, you can rent a five-bedroom detached house rent in Wolverhampton, and in Burnley, a three-bedroom terrace house is just £750 a month.

40 percent of income

The average London tenant spends nearly 40 per cent of their income on renting a typical property and according to the latest available figures asking rents for new rentals in London are growing faster than anywhere else in the UK, there’re up more than 16 per cent in the last year. 

This situation is unsustainable says Kahn, who has been campaigning for a two-year rent freeze, “to ease the burden on renters as the cost of living crisis worsens. Scotland has recently introduced such a freeze.”

Rent Freeze

City Hall analysis, claims Kahn, shows that a rent freeze in the capital over two years would save renters an average of £2,988. In the first year the saving would be £881, money he says that could help families cope with the increases in energy prices we’ve seen this year.  

Kahn says he was elected on a manifesto that “expressly called for the introduction of rent control powers,” and he thinks “it is time ministers recognised his mandate for change and gave him the tools to do this vitally important work.”  

He is calling on Government to double the notice periods for private rental evictions to four months as a matter of urgency, “to give tenants extra financial breathing space to access support and advice, pay arrears or save for a move before their tenancies end.”

Mr Kahn also wants London’s struggling private renters to be given access to “more council and social rented housing, more homes for first-time buyers, a welfare system that reflects the high costs of renting in London and fundamental reform of the private rented sector to rebalance it in favour of renters.”   

Sadiq Khan, has said:

“The fact that 40 per cent of Londoners think that they will struggle to make their rent payments in the next six months shows the scale of the housing crisis in London.

“London’s private renters are facing a triple whammy with rising rents, bills, and the cost of household essentials putting a major strain on their finances. Ministers must take this crisis seriously and act now.

“There is no time to waste so we have come together today to speak with one voice. Our demands to ministers are simple: implement your long-promised renters reform legislation and take action now to make rents more affordable for Londoners, using all powers at the government’s disposal.

“As we continue working to build a better, fairer London for everyone, it’s vital that we stand up for renters in our city and find common ground on the action that needs to be taken to support them through the cost of living crisis, pay their rent and keep their homes.”

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