Shelter claims 1.1 million tenants were asked to pay more rent last month

Shelter is back on the campaigning trail with a new report that says one in seven or 1.1 million renters in England faced rent increase requests last month.

Its poll, conducted by YouGov among 2,031 renters and funded by Nationwide, also reveals that one in three are now spending half their household income on rent and that a similar percentage are struggling to pay their rent.

Shelter also says the poll reveals that private renters are paying higher housing costs than their social housing counterparts or those with mortgages.

The thrust of the organisation’s interpretation of the poll data is that unless the government helps those struggling to pay their rent, “a huge surge in homelessness is inevitable”.

It is urging the government to stop “this ticking timebomb by unfreezing housing benefit, which is lagging way behind rents, having been frozen at 2020 levels”.

The poll also reveals that of the 3.5 million private tenants who had their rent increased, more than 800,000 saw it put up by more than £100 a month, and nearly 200,000 were hit with rises of more than £300 a month.  

But the NRLA has contested the figures, pointing out that latest official data shows that average private rents across the UK have gone up by 3.4 per cent over the last twelve months.

Bear the brunt

“This shows that most landlords are prepared to bear the brunt of rising costs to keep tenants in their homes when they can,” says its Policy Director Chris Norris (pictured).

“There will be cases where landlords are simply unable to shoulder all the increased costs and need to increase rents accordingly. Where this causes difficulties, particularly for tenants on low incomes, the Government should end the freeze on housing benefits.

“Even before the sharp rise in inflation, the level of benefits was failing to reflect the cost of rents as they are today.

“Further increases in rents will also be driven by a chronic shortage of homes for private rent. This is a direct consequence of government action to discourage investment in the sector. Ministers need urgently to develop pro-growth policies to ensure supply meets demand in the rental market.”

Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Shelter (main picture) says: “With more than a million private tenants hit with a rent hike in just the last month, time is running out.  

“The already high cost of renting meant tenants were on the ropes trying to keep up with rising food and energy prices. Now runaway rents will deal many renters a knock-out blow.”