The unequal relationship in private renting

An article in this week’s Uxbridge Gazette highlights again a major problem of the current housing crisis.

The article “Mum gets notice to leave ‘damp’ home” describes a mother who shares a bed with her three year old daughter because of damp in her home. Having complained to her private landlord about the dampness and failing, in her opinion, to obtain an adequate response, the tenant approached Hillingdon Council who attempted to mediate between the landlord and tenant.  The unhappy outcome of this story is that the tenant has now, after three years' tenancy, been given two months’ notice to leave and find somewhere else to live.

Private rented housing

Without making judgements on the tenant's and landlord’s counterclaims, this example illustrates that when a tenant has a grievance with a private landlord it is all too easy for the landlord to solve ‘their problem’ by giving the tenant notice under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement. The tenant has no appeal against this notice and is faced with the disruption, cost and uncertainty of having to find another home.

When Assured Shorthold tenancies were introduced in 1989 they were seen as a way of increasing the supply of rented housing for the young mobile professionals who did not qualify for social housing or were yet ready to buy.  In many ways this was successful.

More than twenty years later we now have a Government which seems bent on abolishing  social housing and many young families are unable to buy their homes due to the credit crunch. Therefore most newly forming households are left to the mercy (or lack) of the private rented sector.

As homelessness increases relentlessly the Government’s principal response has been to dismantle the homelessness safety net.  As from this month homeless families who previously have had the right to be offered a council or housing association home will have to accept private rented accommodation.  Throughout this year newspapers and magazines have carried many stories about Councils, especially London boroughs, discharging their duty to homeless families by directing them to a private tenancy long distances from their last homes.

 

The Government’s disingenuous public stance is   "It is neither acceptable, fair nor necessary for local authorities to place families far away from their area” local authorities in London are locating homeless families all over the South and Midlands in order to discharge their homelessness duties.

 

By definition homeless families for whom Councils have a legal duty are families with children or people who are vulnerable in some way.  To be ‘discharged’ into the high cost, low security private rented sector accommodation many miles from where they have lived previously, with no family support and lower prospects of employment is undermining the Government’s other policy goals of getting people on benefits into work and improving educational attainment.



Home space needed for homework

Many children in these families will have to change schools for homes that provide no long term security, risking repeated moves at the whim of their landlord and disrupted education which in turn undermines their long term life chances.

As exampled in the Gazette article, private renters too often fall victim to the decisions of their landlords. Not all landlords are bad people. Many are 'reluctant landlords' - people who find they cannot sell their home so rent it out instead. However when dealing with a tenant and a sum of money is at stake most, otherwise reasonable, people are unlikely to be impartial in an unequal relationship.

Unfortunately there are even mote unscrupulous landlords and letting agents who quite deliberately exploit their tenants vulnerablity for high fees, hidden charges and broken agreements. There are far too many complaints of unreasonable charges to renew a tenancy agreement, or refusal to return of hundreds of pounds in deposits by landlords without real justification or any accountability.

Now that private renting, historically the tenure of last resort, has become the only housing option available for many families we need to do more to make private renting a secure long term option. Better regulation can protect tenants and responsible landlords.

 

Labour is exploring a code of conduct for lettings agents, greater transparency in fees and charges and new standards people must meet before they open a lettings agency. Such rules have been in place for estate agents for a long time.

 

This is a start but only addresses the tip of the much larger problem of finding an affordable housing supply.