Landlord group challenges simplistic view of rent pricing
8 months ago | 5 comments
Critic blames landlords for charging excessive rents but ignores rising costs they face
9:19 AM, 21st August 2025, 8 months ago
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A blog blames landlords for “charging excessive rent prices” and for taking a “disproportionate amount of income from renters”.
Writing on his blog Funding for the Future, Richard Murphy claims “landlords are charging excessive prices” and points to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that the cost of rental property in proportion to people’s gross incomes rose by 3% in 2023/24.
However, the blog fails to mention that landlord costs have also risen, as a combination of uncertainties from the Renters’ Rights Bill and EPC C targets push landlords to leave the market.
Landlords are charging excessive prices
Mr Murphy points to figures from the ONS suggesting that in London, rents now consume more than 40% of the gross income of renters.
Mr Murphy says on his blog: “Landlords are taking a disproportionate amount of the income of younger and poorer people who are living in rental property.
“Those people are not working for the sake of putting food on the table. They’re not working for the sake of having a good life. They’re working to pay their landlords.
“It’s wrong that people are being denied a chance to live on median earnings because so much of what they earn is being extracted from them by landlords who are charging excessive prices.”
Lay the fault entirely at the door of the excessive prices of rental properties
Mr Murphy adds landlords are to blame for charging too high rents and calls for rent caps to be introduced.
He says: “We can’t live forever in a society where rents are literally dragging people into real poverty after tax and after paying for the essentials of living, where they cannot work out how to make ends meet.
“It’s unsurprising that we have millions of children in poverty in this country as a consequence. You could lay the fault entirely at the door of the excessive prices of rental properties.
“Unless our government gets a grip on this issue, and it can only get a grip on this issue by either imposing rent caps or by increasing the number of government owned properties, whether that be government or housing association or local authority, I’m not too worried about, but under government control, unless more of those properties are made available at genuine social rents, there is no chance of this changing.”
Overlooks the facts
However, the blog fails to mention that landlords are also facing rising costs and challenges. As previously reported on Property118, EPC C upgrades will cost landlords thousands of pounds. It also overlooks the fact that the median gross income for landlords is around £25,000 before expenses, with 41% earning less than £20,000.
Landlords and letting agents are also set to bear the brunt of the £33 million cost of the Renters’ Rights Bill, with the impact assessment suggesting tenants will benefit by just £28 per household per year.
Tags:
EPC C upgrades, excessive rents, Landlords, rent caps, rental sector costs, renters rights bill
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Member Since June 2013 - Comments: 3237 - Articles: 81
10:07 AM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
I’ll keep putting this on when people wonder why rents keep going up.
Keep spreading these words please.
WhyTenantsCan’tGetHouses
A background to why you tenants are paying extortionate rents and can’t get anywhere unless you earning a cracking wage-Blame the Govt and Councils you vote for because you like it when they give more regs & rules to the Landlord-Guess who pays for this? You do.
I’m the biggest private provider to Benefit tenants in Nottingham over 27 years and not once has the Govt and Council come to ask me What they can do for me, so I and my colleagues will take the people we used to take. I will add to this list as I remember more.
They wanted Pet deposits banned.
Cause we’d want £100 more in case dog did damage.
End of tenancy, dog did no damage, tenant got all deposit back.
2019 you banned higher pet deposits cause some tenants didn’t like it when dog did damage & didn’t get their deposit back.
We stopped taking pets.
2024 MP stood up in Parliament and called for Pet deposits to be reinstated cause tenants with pets couldn’t get accommodation.
You couldn’t make this up.
Description here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u54ouYTdNr7WaCPYW18Q_tZdlJr8-VwSUJpE0IcPf5k/edit?usp=drivesdk
They don’t want Landlords helping tenants with Benefits and they bought in Universal Credit which has zero communication with Landlord- We now don’t take Benefit tenants.
They bought in Selective Licensing on good Landlords with good houses. We put the rents up to cover it and now don’t take risky tenants.
Landlord can get fined £30,000 if tenant takes battery out smoke alarm and Landlord CAN’T prove that tenant did it.
Landlord can get fined £30,000 if renting 1 bed flat to single person and he/she moves his/her partner in unbeknown to the Landlord if the Selective License only has license for one occupier.
They started fining Landlords £5000 if they didn’t check tenants passport properly on Right to Rent checks-Landlords stopped taking anyone that had the slightest chance of being illegal immigrant. Innocent UK citizens suffered.
2015, they bought in that if Landlord CANNOT PROVE he/she has gave tenant boiler certificate, you can never get your property back. Even if had a new boiler 5 years later, Judge says Not bothered, u not having your house back. This helped the current bad tenant, hurts the next 100,000 tenants waiting for a home. A purely Anti Landlord measure to stop Landlord getting rid bad tenant or having his house back.
Oct 2024 Unison now wants a rent freeze. Ooh are we a charity are we? What other individual who sells or provides something is told YOU CANNOT charge a price u wish?
Oct 2024 the Renter Rights Bill is going to make it law, u can’t do rent increase unless use Section 13. Now for years, I’ve agreed informally with tenant ‘Ok £25 a month, u still £200pm now below anyone else.’ Job done.
Now, I’m totally full up with paperwork and rules and regs. I have no more time. Section 13 some more say only a few mins. It’s still 30 mins by time printed, filled in, signed, scanned, sent. Each one when u have lots of houses on top of Selective Licensing INSISTING we inspect each house every 4 months (two weeks solid just on inspections every months) is taking me over the edge. My existing tenants are going to have to go with Letting Agent who charge £50 for a Section 13. That’s £4pm extra on the rent. Along with the extra £80pm Letting Agent fee which gets rid of cheap rent was charity.
Sep 2024 Ed Miliband MP wants all houses to EPC C which will cost Landlords £5000 and increase tenants cheap rents. As soon he announced this, he made more tenants homeless. Few words on that here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eI7z29SNRCDLLwX6_0QQChrwTxZ4jGZw4UNybVYfD1s/edit?usp=drivesdk
Section 24 Tax bought in by George Osborne of the Tories who said it will only affect 1 in 5 Landlords-That’s over 2 million tenants put at risk of homeless. Landlords with tenants of 25 years are now being made homeless on this one action alone.
Oct 2024 I’ve heard there’s a part of the RRB that says we must give tenants our home address on paperwork.
Details of that here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v7aETrvz0j6CdS7LZwYukthZAbhNxLWRKR8qShi6Gok/edit?usp=drivesdk
Aug 2025 RRB
Aug 2025 Making Tax digital
Aug 2025 RRB getting rid of Section 21 so u can’t get rid of bad tenant which would help a good tenant get the house.
Every anti Landlord measure they bring in to they think will help the tenant has hurt the tenants massively.
Every time the MP’s talk an anti landlord measure, they’ve made more homeless and increased rents.
There is loads more
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 1013
10:10 AM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
Murphy proves that he is in fact a Marxist when he doubles down on some of his assertions in the replies to comments made.
His lack of knowledge of the rental market, and his deliberate ignoring of the underlying factors that are driving rents up puts him as an “economist” on a par with Rachel Reeves.
Member Since February 2018 - Comments: 627
10:25 AM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
As well as posting here, why not take it to him, here https://youtu.be/LbJx_ySsIeA?si=o2QPKGIfEkSYwDEp
Member Since July 2017 - Comments: 463
10:38 AM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
Landlords fed up with being screwed should perhaps contact the government to help provide them with some of the 5,000 homes needed to house asylum seekers but only on condition that they pay a 50% premium to current market rates. Still cheaper than hotels – not negotiable – pay up or go away.
Member Since May 2015 - Comments: 2190 - Articles: 2
10:43 AM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Dennis Forrest at 21/08/2025 – 10:38
Agree, except that I want 200% premium. I have housed asylum seekers in the past, the damage they did took ten years of normal rent to recoup.
Member Since February 2020 - Comments: 360
11:55 AM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
When I was renting in London, I shared properties and lived in poorer undesirable areas, as well as further out.
If the rent is too high, simply move to a cheaper accommodation.
If that still doesn’t suit, why doesn’t the author tell people to move to places that follow his orthodoxy.
North Korea and China have some cheap rents.
Member Since October 2020 - Comments: 1144
12:00 PM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
This is just tenant action groups such as Generation Rent fingering their cronies to write articles to heap pressure on what they realise is a weak Labour Government to bring in rent controls.
Member Since May 2015 - Comments: 2190 - Articles: 2
12:03 PM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Downsize Government at 21/08/2025 – 11:55
Make sure you like the mandated hairstyles before you move to North Korea.
Member Since November 2024 - Comments: 81
2:09 PM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Downsize Government at 21/08/2025 – 11:55Did the same – purposely lived like that -not so great accommodation, undesirable areas etc to get cheaper rent so I could save to get the deposit to buy my first property – also worked two jobs. Generation Privilege comes to mind.
Member Since November 2024 - Comments: 81
2:20 PM, 21st August 2025, About 8 months ago
The current government have unleashed / emboldened entitled whingers unfortunately. Those that can, do and those that cant work in gov or ranting charities constantly hounding and extorting those that actually work and provide useful services to society. Those that cant harrass and bully those that can and leach off them for their existence. I am counting the days when this govt are no longer in power as at the moment it feels very parasitic and if they are allowed to carry on they will end up destroying their host i.e. those that can and do as parasites can do if too many of them.