Generation Rent is out of time and patience, writes James Hanson

In March, I moved out of the flat I’d been sharing with a friend in south London. We’d each been paying more than a thousand pounds a month for a damp-infested, badly furnished ground floor property in desperate need of repair. I used to fall asleep at night to the sound of mice scuttling around in the floorboards overhead. Luxury it was not.

At the end of our tenancy, we requested our deposit back, in full, only for our letting agent to propose a series of absurd deductions. Most outlandish was the claim that we’d left the carpets dirty. Except there wasn’t a single carpet in the entire property.

On pointing this out, they countered with a different proposed deduction: for not getting the flat professionally cleaned on exit. Except we had - from a company recommended by the letting agents themselves.

Eventually, we got our deposit back, and in full; however, it shouldn’t have taken as long as it did. Sadly, my story pales in comparison to some of the genuine horrors friends and colleagues have described to me. But it isn’t just the dodgy landlords and damp and mouldy conditions that tenants have to contend with.

The biggest blight on Britain’s rental market is the eye-watering cost. For many young professionals on even above-average salaries, the cost of renting has become prohibitively high.

With home ownership remaining out of reach for many, today’s under-40s are renting in greater numbers than ever before. This week, data from Rightmove found that average rents in London have reached a record £2,736 a month.

Let’s say that’s for a two-bed flat. Excluding bills, that means each tenant is forking out more than £16,000 a year on rent, which - if you’re earning an average amount - means you’re easily breaking the 30 per cent rule (aiming to spend no more than 30 per cent of your gross monthly income on rent).

Outside London, things aren’t much better - with average advertised rents reaching a new record high of £1,385 per month. No wonder the birth rate is falling off a cliff: who in their right mind would start a family when they can barely afford their housing bill?

And don’t forget that many young people will also have student debt totalling tens of thousands of pounds. So please spare me any financial lectures from baby boomers about how millennials would be able to buy a house if only we’d go out for brunch less often.

The government’s Renters’ Rights Bill has now become law, and includes some welcome changes to protect tenants.

Restricting rent increases to once a year, stopping agents and landlords from engaging in bidding wars, and implementing what’s known as Awaab’s Law to force landlords to deal with damp and mould are all sensible measures.

But the bill does nothing to address the fundamental problem affecting every aspect of the housing market: we haven’t got enough of it.

The most significant housing story this week is not the passing of the Renter’s Rights Bill, it’s the warning from house builders that the government is on course to miss its target to build 1.5 million homes in England by the end of the decade.

The reason rents are so high is because supply is so limited - it’s as simple as that. Demand-side solutions like rent controls will not work. They’ll force landlords to sell up - further shrinking the market. You can only solve a housing crisis by building more homes.

The housing secretary, Steve Reed, talks a good game with his Trumpian slogan “build, baby, build” - but unless the government is prepared to rip up Britain’s Byzantine planning laws, then little will change.

As a subscriber to the ‘housing theory of everything’, I have become convinced this country cannot revive its fortunes until our broken housing market is put right.

The plight of renters is simply the most glaring example of what needs fixing - and fast.

____________________

Listen to James Hanson on LBC on Sunday mornings between 4-7am.

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk