Sadiq Khan warns ‘astronomical rents, payments the price of family necessities rising’ leaves Londoners vulnerable to being evicted

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has immediately issued a stark warning that an growing variety of Londoners are vulnerable to homelessness due to rising rents which have now exceeded a mean of greater than £2,500 monthly.

Alarming Metropolis Corridor polling reveals that 30 per cent of personal renters in London at the moment are struggling to make ends meet financially. Individually,  24 per cent of personal renters are struggling to satisfy hire funds and 6 per cent say they’ve fallen behind within the final six months.

In keeping with the Better London Authority, there are roughly 2.7m Londoners within the personal rented sector. Which means that within the area of 650,000 are combating their hire and 160,000 have fallen behind with funds.

In keeping with the Homelet Rental Information Index for Could 2023,  renters taking over new tenancies in London spend a mean of 36 per cent of their family earnings on hire, almost 5 per cent larger than the nationwide common of 31 per cent. This improved quickly throughout the pandemic however has since worsened once more.

Common rents for brand new tenancies have elevated dramatically for the reason that pandemic, and the speed of development stays excessive, regardless of reductions in development throughout the remainder of the UK. In keeping with Rightmove knowledge, the typical marketed rents in London reached £2,501 a month by the top of March 2023.

This example is unsustainable and leaves many Londoners vulnerable to being unable to afford hire and shedding their properties. Metropolis Corridor evaluation discovered that there have been 3,630 households assessed as being threatened with homelessness in London in 2022 as a result of receiving a Part 21 no-fault eviction discover, greater than earlier than the pandemic.

A Part 21 permits landlords to evict tenants with out giving a purpose. After receiving a Part 21 discover, tenants have simply two months earlier than their landlord can apply for a court docket order to evict them. Rising rents and arrears make it extra probably that landlords will difficulty tenants with a Part 21 eviction discover.

The Mayor is immediately repeating his name on the Authorities to urgently introduce a two-year hire freeze, to ease the burden on renters as the price of dwelling disaster worsens, whereas additionally banning part 21 no-fault evictions directly.

London’s struggling personal renters additionally want extra council and social rented housing, extra properties for first-time patrons, a welfare system that displays the excessive prices of renting in London, and elementary reform of the personal rented sector to supply safer, safer properties for renters.

The Mayor has constantly been on the facet of London’s personal renters, efficiently campaigning for the Authorities to finish unjust letting charges, droop evictions throughout the pandemic and put in a package deal of grants to assist maintain renters of their properties.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, stated: “With astronomical rents, payments, and the price of family necessities rising, many London renters are solely nearly managing – and the state of affairs is getting worse. An increasing number of folks at the moment are vulnerable to being evicted. That’s why it has by no means been extra pressing for the Authorities to implement a right away two-year hire freeze within the capital and provides me the facility to introduce a system of hire controls that works for London.

“Whereas the publication of the Authorities’s long-overdue Renters Reform Invoice is a constructive step ahead, my message to ministers is that they have to additionally take motion now to make rents extra reasonably priced as a matter of urgency.

“As we work to construct a greater, fairer London for everybody, I’ll proceed to face up for renters in our metropolis and do all I can to assist them pay their hire and maintain their properties.”

Ben Twomey, Director, Technology Hire, stated, “If London can’t present properties for the individuals who need to dwell right here, that’s a catastrophe not just for town, however the nation as an entire. Persons are being pressured to maneuver away from their households, others can not take up job gives, and extra of us are compromising by accepting overcrowded lodging simply to have a mattress that permit’s us dwell right here.

“The federal government should do extra to let London construct the housing it wants, together with properties at social rents that permit folks on low incomes to proceed dwelling right here.

“Renters in London are at a really excessive danger of being evicted so landlords can promote or put the hire up. The Renters (Reform) Invoice might make an enormous distinction to their safety of tenure, but it surely wants to make sure dangerous landlords can’t proceed exploiting tenants, and embrace higher protections for tenants who face eviction for causes past their management.”