The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today issued a stark warning that an increasing number of Londoners are at risk of homelessness because of rising rents which have now exceeded an average of more than £2,500 per month.
Alarming City Hall polling shows that 30 per cent of private renters in London are now struggling to make ends meet financially. Separately, 24 per cent of private renters are struggling to meet rent payments and six per cent say they have fallen behind in the last six months.
According to the Greater London Authority, there are approximately 2.7m Londoners in the private rented sector. This means that in the region of 650,000 are struggling with their rent and 160,000 have fallen behind with payments.
According to the Homelet Rental Data Index for May 2023, renters taking up new tenancies in London spend an average of 36 per cent of their household income on rent, nearly five per cent higher than the national average of 31 per cent. This improved temporarily during the pandemic but has since worsened again.
Average rents for new tenancies have increased dramatically since the pandemic, and the rate of growth remains high, despite reductions in growth across the rest of the UK. According to Rightmove data, the average advertised rents in London reached £2,501 a month by the end of March 2023.
This situation is unsustainable and leaves many Londoners at risk of being unable to afford rent and losing their homes. City Hall analysis found that there were 3,630 households assessed as being threatened with homelessness in London in 2022 due to receiving a Section 21 no-fault eviction notice, more than before the pandemic.
A Section 21 allows landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason. After receiving a Section 21 notice, tenants have just two months before their landlord can apply for a court order to evict them. Rising rents and arrears make it more likely that landlords will issue tenants with a Section 21 eviction notice.
The Mayor is today repeating his call on the Government to urgently introduce a two-year rent freeze, to ease the burden on renters as the cost of living crisis worsens, while also banning section 21 no-fault evictions without delay.
London’s struggling private renters also need 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 provide safer, more secure homes for renters.
The Mayor has consistently been on the side of London’s private renters, successfully campaigning for the Government to end unjust letting fees, suspend evictions during the pandemic and put in a package of grants to help keep renters in their homes.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “With astronomical rents, bills, and the cost of household essentials rising, many London renters are only just about managing – and the situation is getting worse. More and more people are now at risk of being evicted. That’s why it has never been more urgent for the Government to implement an immediate two-year rent freeze in the capital and give me the power to introduce a system of rent controls that works for London.
“While the publication of the Government’s long-overdue Renters Reform Bill is a positive step forward, my message to ministers is that they must also take action now to make rents more affordable as a matter of urgency.
“As we work to build a better, fairer London for everyone, I’ll continue to stand up for renters in our city and do all I can to help them pay their rent and keep their homes.”
Ben Twomey, Director, Generation Rent, said, “If London can’t provide homes for the people who want to live here, that’s a disaster not only for the city, but the country as a whole. People are being forced to move away from their families, others cannot take up job offers, and more of us are compromising by accepting overcrowded accommodation just to have a bed that let’s us live here.
“The government must do more to let London build the housing it needs, including homes at social rents that allow people on low incomes to continue living here.
“Renters in London are at a very high risk of being evicted so landlords can sell or put the rent up. The Renters (Reform) Bill could make a huge difference to their security of tenure, but it needs to ensure bad landlords can’t continue exploiting tenants, and include better protections for tenants who face eviction for reasons beyond their control.”
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