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12:19 PM, 14th November 2022, About A year ago 21
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The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called for an emergency private renting summit – but landlords aren’t invited.
He will bring together private renters, charities, advocacy groups and politicians to call on the Government to urgently tackle London’s spiralling rental crisis.
The call comes after a survey reveals that 40% of Londoners think they will struggle to meet rent payments in the next six months.
As part of the call, Mr Khan says the average advertised London rent has hit £2,343 – that’s more than double than other parts of the UK.
But the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) says the mayor must invite landlords if he wants to resolve the problem.
The mayor has also repeated his previous call for the Government to freeze rents in London.
He says that London’s tenants are facing ‘multiple crises’ from escalating rents, insecure tenancies and unsafe homes.
The mayor says he is making a ‘call to action’ for Ministers to immediately implement long-promised renters reform legislation to give tenants the security and safety they ‘urgently need’ – and to take action to make ‘rents more affordable’ for Londoners.
Mr Khan said: “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.”
He added: “There is no time to waste so we have come together 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.”
Alicia Kennedy, the director of Generation Rent, said: “When rents are rising on new tenancies, no private renter is safe.
“It is too easy for your landlord to demand a higher rent when they know they can evict you and re-let to someone else who is willing to pay it.
“People who don’t want to move are being priced out of their homes and forced to compete in this hellish market. And the cost-of-living crisis is making it even worse.”
She added: “The government can alleviate rising living costs for renters immediately with a freeze on rents on existing tenancies and suspension of Section 21 evictions so landlords can’t evict simply to re-let at a higher rent.”
Responding to the Mayor’s plans to hold an emergency summit on the private rented sector, Ben Beadle, the chief executive of the NRLA, said: “It is disappointing in the extreme that the Mayor of London feels he can solve the challenges faced in the capital’s rental market without any input from those who actually provide the homes.
“The stark and simple reality is that whilst the demand for private rented housing in London continues to increase, the supply of such homes is falling.
“This is a direct consequence of Government policy aimed at shrinking the size of the sector, along with rhetoric from the mayor that suggests private landlords are simply a problem to be managed.”
He added: “If the Mayor wants to address the cost pressures faced by households across London, he needs to focus on boosting the number of homes available.
“Anything else would merely be tinkering with the symptoms of the challenges in the rental market, without tackling the root cause of them.”
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Just A Queen
7:16 AM, 15th November 2022, About A year ago
What the government have done is taken away landlords benifits. Made renting so it’s not cost effective so landlords have no choice but to put tenants rents up.
They can then put the blame on landlords distracting it away from the real problem
Which is THEM!!!!!!!
Laura Delow
7:52 AM, 15th November 2022, About A year ago
As has been the case for years, those who could not afford to buy or rent a home in London, moved out, hence the ever growing suburbs & surrounding home counties - the commuter belt. Yes it's disruptive and upsetting to leave all that one knows, especially for children who need to change school, but our grandparents & parents made this choice when they wanted a more affordable home. I moved with my parents 5 times & went to 3 different schools by the time I was 8. It even allowed many to eventually move from renter status to homeowner status. Why should todays renters especially those on benefits, feel they should be immune to, even protected, from this. If they cannot afford to live in London, they should move to the suburbs/HC's or further like everyone else has had to because they aspired for more. My grandparents, parents & then I had to & so did my kids. All of us in one form or another first rented in London then in the suburbs, then moved further out to buy a box to get our foot on the first rung of the ladder whilst for years we sacrificed a social life & all non essentials in order to afford it. It wasn't a quick fix. It was a goal one aimed for over a 10-20year horizon. I'm fed up of hearing London renters bemoan the rents they have to pay, but instead of taking any responsibility, they blame others & look for help rather than get off their butts & at the very least, move out of London. The UK has become overprotective & expects those, like us, that sacrificed & strived for bigger/better to have to pay for those who don't want to pay the price of striving for self-reliance. This Nanny State attitude has created an ever growing benefit nation & is killing off drive & ambition. Not just for those on benefits (Shelter stats; annual spending on housing benefit has more than doubled from £9 billion in 1991-92 to £21 billion now) but also for those not on any benefits who worked up to 15hour days to better their lives who are now being punished & having to pay for this ever growing £21 billion. Who's blamed in the main? Us - the landlords - we are the number 1 target yet for years we sacrificed everything to improve our pension prospects and since 2015 in particular have been punished ever since. What a sorry backward Nation we've become. UK plc used to be great. Sadly no more. All we've become is a great place for those who want state help.
Hardworking Landlord
8:01 AM, 15th November 2022, About A year ago
The mere fact that us home providers are not invited, demonstrates just how poor his plan is…
Old Mrs Landlord
11:05 AM, 15th November 2022, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by Steve Masters at 14/11/2022 - 21:24
"Every new expense that is forced on landlords eventually gets passed on to tenants" - how right you are. Someone on here posted a video link to the deliberations of the committee going through the nitty gritty of the White Paper prior to drafting the Fairer Private Renting Bill and that's an afternoon of my time I'll never get back. I was struck by the number of times that, when the costs of proposals were raised, such as the funding for setting up the portal where all private landlords must register and then again for the ongoing costs of upkeep and salaries of staff to run the system, the answer was always "Oh, the landlords will pay for that". Mr. Khan is calling for the urgent implementation of that legislation to remove Section 21 and curb rent rises! How delusional is he to think that any landlords still standing at that point will be able to hold, never mind reduce, the rents they charge.
Freda Blogs
11:12 AM, 15th November 2022, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by Hardworking Landlord at 15/11/2022 - 08:01
His plan is great - for headlines and possibly for votes too.
Ultimately however it will bite both landlords and tenants in the backside, but hey, it will be spun to look like the fault of landlords.
Mr Khan is already proven to be manipulative, untruthful and scheming - we only need to look at what he did to the Commissioner of the Met Police that he took a dislike to - the report that followed didn't show him in a good light.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/independent-review-on-departure-of-metropolitan-police-commissioner-published
Diana Seymour
13:30 PM, 15th November 2022, About A year ago
Without landlords, there would be no rental properties. Has Khan thought of that?
Old Mrs Landlord
18:53 PM, 15th November 2022, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by Steve Masters at 14/11/2022 - 21:24
"Every new expense that is forced on landlords eventually gets passed on to tenants" - how right you are. Someone on here posted a video link to the deliberations of the committee going through the nitty gritty of the White Paper prior to drafting the Fairer Private Renting Bill and that's an afternoon of my time I'll never get back. I was struck by the number of times that, when the costs of proposals were raised, such as the funding for setting up the portal where all private landlords must register and then again for the ongoing costs of upkeep and salaries of staff to run the system, the answer was always "Oh, the landlords will pay for that". Mr. Khan is calling for the urgent implementation of that legislation to remove Section 21 and curb rent rises! How delusional is he to think that any landlords still standing at that point will be able to hold, never mind reduce, the rents they charge.
Andrew57
19:08 PM, 15th November 2022, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by Laura Delow at 15/11/2022 - 07:52
I vote for you for PM 😁
Jolly Roger
9:40 AM, 19th November 2022, About A year ago
We need someone like Vanessa Warwick of Property Tribes to go on every channel to fight our corner. I too am considering getting out and it's keeping me awake at night.
DP
13:11 PM, 19th November 2022, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by Susie Keen at 19/11/2022 - 09:40
Yes until something like this gets going I don't think we are going to get heard or the situation from a landlords perspective understood.