In a hopeful day for London’s renters, the Mayor has shared his vision for private renting.
For too long, renters in the capital and across the country have been denied the security they need in the place they call home. With insecure tenancies and spiralling costs, people who rent are at the mercy of their landlord. Too often they are unable to put down roots in the place they live.
But now Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s London Blueprint lays … Read more
The Mayor of London’s review of rent control has concluded with a call for new powers to cut rents in the capital.
In this post we explain why we support new powers to give tenants predictable rents, and how we hope to work with the Mayor to get rent control right for those struggling at the bottom of the housing market.
The Greater London Assembly (GLA) is also announcing details of its London Model proposal for how to implement the … Read more
Kyrstyna and her husband, Geoff, had been homeowners. But when they lost their jobs due to redundancy, they were forced to go back to renting privately in their 50s.
Finding somewhere to rent was tough. Like many people receiving housing benefit, Krystyna and Geoff faced DSS discrimination and struggled to find a place to live. In the end, they were forced to move all the way from the West Midlands to Cornwall just to find somewhere that would accept them … Read more
New research by Shelter shows that Scottish renters have been reaping the benefits of open-ended tenancies since the introduction of the Private Residential Tenancy (PRT) in December 2017.
These new tenancies are helping renters worry less about becoming homeless, worry less about getting locked into inflexible fixed term tenancies, and giving them more faith in politicians.
With the prospect of open-ended tenancies on the horizon for English renters, the early signs from Scotland show that they too stand to benefit from greater security of tenure.
Scottish… Read more
Funded by the Big Lottery’s Help Through Crisis scheme and in partnership with Birmingham Mind, our WELLcome Home services provide outcome-focused support to individuals and their families. The aim is to help them reconnect to their accommodation and community after a stay as an inpatient.
We’re fast approaching the service’s fourth year, so it feels like an appropriate time to share another success story.
Imagine not being able to take your baby home from hospital because you have nowhere to … Read more
Among a growing number of organisations campaigning for the rights of private renters is London Renters Union (LRU), a union for people who rent privately, and who work to support members from across the capital.
Like Shelter, LRU come across cases of DSS discrimination every day. In the guest blog written by one of their members, you’ll find just one story of how they helped a member facing this prejudice.
You can join the campaign to tackle this issue across … Read more
15 April was a cause for big celebration. Renters won an important campaign which will change the way all private tenants are treated in our country. In case you missed it, the government announced plans to scrap Section 21, effectively fixing renting in the private sector by bringing an end to no-fault evictions. It’s a move that could finally give tenants the right to stay in their homes.
If made into law, this will improve renting for every one of … Read more
This week, the government announced plans to abolish Section 21 evictions, meaning that private renters can no longer be evicted unless their landlord has a legitimate reason to do so. This is a historic change which will offer Britain’s 11 million private renters the security they have too long been denied.
Shelter has long campaigned for greater security for those living in the private rented sector, from families to older people. And this is an outstanding victory for those who … Read more
More significant progress in Shelter’s fight against housing benefit discrimination this week, as Rightmove signalled their intention to ban all ‘No DSS’ adverts from their website. At least that’s what the headlines say…
Look beyond them and it’s clear that Rightmove still have work to do to end DSS discrimination for good. We commend them for acting, but under their proposed approach, letting agents will still be free to post discriminatory adverts in breach of equality law.
What are … Read more
At Shelter, we see many people who’ve had bad experiences renting privately, but Tom’s experiences are exceptionally bad. First, his landlord blocked off access to the boiler and left the thermostat set so low that the heating wouldn’t come on unless it was freezing cold. Then he started coming to the property on a daily basis, going into his tenants’ rooms without their permission.
Things got worse when there was a gas leak in the property. When Tom informed his … Read more
As we start a new financial year, the one million households claiming Housing Benefit in the private rental sector continue to see their Local Housing Allowance (LHA) frozen.
The government is fully aware that rates now fall short of increasing rents in the vast majority of the country. Every month, renters are left with a shortfall that puts them at risk of debt and homelessness. Nonetheless, the government has insisted on enforcing the freeze until April 2020, rather than bringing … Read more
From today, private renters will benefit from an extra layer of security. New regulations introduced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will protect both tenants and landlords’ money – such as deposits and rent payments – from theft or misuse while being held by letting agents.
We strongly supported this introduction of mandatory Client Money Protection (CMP) and have long argued for better protections against unscrupulous letting agents for both renters and landlords.
What was the… Read more