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Landlords and letting agents in line of fire as tenants join fightback
With the average tenant now paying £757 a month, many are mobilising to campaign on everything from landlord evictions to the abolition of letting agents fees
A Haringey housing action group, in London, attempts to inspect a local lettings agency in protest at high rents and high agency charges. Photograph: Patricia Phillips/Alamy
The cost of rent stands at an all-time high, with the average private tenant now paying £757 a month, according to the latest figures from property firm LSL. Meanwhile, reports that London would-be tenants face racial discrimination suggest that landlords are imposing a growing number of restrictions.
Yet escaping spiralling rent, extortionate letting agency fees and poorly maintained properties can be an impossible task, despite the introduction of the government's Help to Buy scheme. According to the Office for National Statistics, property prices rose by 3.8% in the year to August, with the average UK home now costing £247,000. Just a 5% deposit for a property of this value equates to £12,350.
But tenants aren't taking the situation lying down – they're joining forces and fighting back. A growing number of tenants' groups are campaigning for everything from a ban on "retaliatory evictions" to the abolition of fees and introduction of rent controls.
Some changes are underway. Tenants could soon find it easier to lock into longer-term rental contracts, after the government unveiled a "tenants' charter" aimed at improving renting standards, while the Office of Fair Trading announced new guidance for letting agents last week.
At present letting agents aren't regulated – anyone can become one. However, from next April they will have to belong to an ombudsman scheme to provide a route to redress – but activists say more needs to be done.
The Tenants' Voice is a community of tenants sharing advice and experience online, founded by Glen Nichols who faced a series of problems as a tenant. Its Facebook page already has 11,330 "likes" and its website is under construction. Once the site is up and running it intends to include a Trip Advisor-style rate and review system where tenants can provide feedback and share their experiences about both good and bad about landlords and agents, and get information about their rights.
Hackney Digs protesters. Photograph: Aaron Dinsdale Other groups are more localised, such as Hackney Renters (known as "Digs"), Islington Private Tenants and the Edinburgh Private Tenants Action Group. Some of the London groups have joined together to form a coalition called London Renters which runs the Let Down campaign, targeting "greedy" letting agents who charge extortionate fees for basic administration tasks.
But what are your rights if you are renting a property, either directly from a landlord or through a letting agent?
You should have a contract called an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) if you live in a property where the landlord doesn't live. Nickols says: "It sounds obvious but the most important thing a tenant can do is to read the tenancy agreement and make sure they understand it and agree to it. If anything isn't clear then they need to flag it up with the landlord – and never sign a contract if there are any problems in the property unless it is explicitly stated in the contract that this will be fixed. Assume nothing."
An AST gives tenants the legal right to live in a property for a period of time, normally a fixed term of at least six months and on a rolling or "periodic" basis after that.
Generally tenants can't leave without being liable for rent during a fixed-term tenancy and normally have to give one month's notice to leave when the tenancy becomes periodic.
If the landlord wants the tenants to leave after the fixed term they can issue a section 21 notice (under the Housing Act 1988). Alternatively, a landlord can issue a tenant with a section 8 notice at any time if they've broken certain terms of the tenancy agreement – the most common reason is rent arrears.
"Landlords have a duty to give assured shorthold tenants at least two months' notice when evicting them," says Heather Kennedy of Digs. "Even once this notice has expired, you have a legal right to remain in your property until your landlord has been granted a bailiff warrant from the court. If you are being evicted, always seek advice."
The rules are different if you're a lodger and live in the same property as your landlord or landlady – in this situation you'll be issued with a licence which gives you fewer rights than an AST. However, watch out for landlords that issue licences instead of ASTs despite not living in the property themselves. This licence agreement wouldn't stand up in court.
Since April 2007 a landlord or letting agent taking a deposit from a tenant must protect it in a government-backed tenancy deposit protection scheme. They can be fined if they don't and, crucially, a section 21 notice for eviction is not valid if a deposit is not properly protected.
Letting agents' fees are a bugbear of all the tenant campaign groups. Fees for administration charges before a tenant moves in can run to several hundred pounds and often bear no relation to the work involved – yet the charges are completely legal, in England and Wales at least. New rules about fees come into effect on 1 November – but the charges aren't being banned as campaigners would like. Instead, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that these costs should be clearly displayed in adverts alongside rental prices.
Fees on top of the rent and deposit are banned in Scotland, but Scottish tenants still have plenty to complain about. The Edinburgh Private Tenants Action Group says that although tenants have certain rights, the law is rarely enforced.
Alyson MacDonald, a member of the Edinburgh tenants' group, says: "Landlords can get away with breaking the law for years. Local councils rarely fine landlords for failing to register houses of multiple occupation or not meeting the safety standards, and when tenants go to the police about threatening behaviour or illegal evictions, they can find police take the landlord's side because they don't know these aspects of the law.'
With the average tenant now paying £757 a month, many are mobilising to campaign on everything from landlord evictions to the abolition of letting agents fees
Email- Emma Lunn
- The Observer, Sunday 20 October 2013
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A Haringey housing action group, in London, attempts to inspect a local lettings agency in protest at high rents and high agency charges. Photograph: Patricia Phillips/AlamyThe cost of rent stands at an all-time high, with the average private tenant now paying £757 a month, according to the latest figures from property firm LSL. Meanwhile, reports that London would-be tenants face racial discrimination suggest that landlords are imposing a growing number of restrictions.
Yet escaping spiralling rent, extortionate letting agency fees and poorly maintained properties can be an impossible task, despite the introduction of the government's Help to Buy scheme. According to the Office for National Statistics, property prices rose by 3.8% in the year to August, with the average UK home now costing £247,000. Just a 5% deposit for a property of this value equates to £12,350.
But tenants aren't taking the situation lying down – they're joining forces and fighting back. A growing number of tenants' groups are campaigning for everything from a ban on "retaliatory evictions" to the abolition of fees and introduction of rent controls.
Some changes are underway. Tenants could soon find it easier to lock into longer-term rental contracts, after the government unveiled a "tenants' charter" aimed at improving renting standards, while the Office of Fair Trading announced new guidance for letting agents last week.
At present letting agents aren't regulated – anyone can become one. However, from next April they will have to belong to an ombudsman scheme to provide a route to redress – but activists say more needs to be done.
The Tenants' Voice is a community of tenants sharing advice and experience online, founded by Glen Nichols who faced a series of problems as a tenant. Its Facebook page already has 11,330 "likes" and its website is under construction. Once the site is up and running it intends to include a Trip Advisor-style rate and review system where tenants can provide feedback and share their experiences about both good and bad about landlords and agents, and get information about their rights.
Hackney Digs protesters. Photograph: Aaron Dinsdale Other groups are more localised, such as Hackney Renters (known as "Digs"), Islington Private Tenants and the Edinburgh Private Tenants Action Group. Some of the London groups have joined together to form a coalition called London Renters which runs the Let Down campaign, targeting "greedy" letting agents who charge extortionate fees for basic administration tasks.But what are your rights if you are renting a property, either directly from a landlord or through a letting agent?
You should have a contract called an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) if you live in a property where the landlord doesn't live. Nickols says: "It sounds obvious but the most important thing a tenant can do is to read the tenancy agreement and make sure they understand it and agree to it. If anything isn't clear then they need to flag it up with the landlord – and never sign a contract if there are any problems in the property unless it is explicitly stated in the contract that this will be fixed. Assume nothing."
An AST gives tenants the legal right to live in a property for a period of time, normally a fixed term of at least six months and on a rolling or "periodic" basis after that.
Generally tenants can't leave without being liable for rent during a fixed-term tenancy and normally have to give one month's notice to leave when the tenancy becomes periodic.
If the landlord wants the tenants to leave after the fixed term they can issue a section 21 notice (under the Housing Act 1988). Alternatively, a landlord can issue a tenant with a section 8 notice at any time if they've broken certain terms of the tenancy agreement – the most common reason is rent arrears.
"Landlords have a duty to give assured shorthold tenants at least two months' notice when evicting them," says Heather Kennedy of Digs. "Even once this notice has expired, you have a legal right to remain in your property until your landlord has been granted a bailiff warrant from the court. If you are being evicted, always seek advice."
The rules are different if you're a lodger and live in the same property as your landlord or landlady – in this situation you'll be issued with a licence which gives you fewer rights than an AST. However, watch out for landlords that issue licences instead of ASTs despite not living in the property themselves. This licence agreement wouldn't stand up in court.
Since April 2007 a landlord or letting agent taking a deposit from a tenant must protect it in a government-backed tenancy deposit protection scheme. They can be fined if they don't and, crucially, a section 21 notice for eviction is not valid if a deposit is not properly protected.
Letting agents' fees are a bugbear of all the tenant campaign groups. Fees for administration charges before a tenant moves in can run to several hundred pounds and often bear no relation to the work involved – yet the charges are completely legal, in England and Wales at least. New rules about fees come into effect on 1 November – but the charges aren't being banned as campaigners would like. Instead, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that these costs should be clearly displayed in adverts alongside rental prices.
Fees on top of the rent and deposit are banned in Scotland, but Scottish tenants still have plenty to complain about. The Edinburgh Private Tenants Action Group says that although tenants have certain rights, the law is rarely enforced.
Alyson MacDonald, a member of the Edinburgh tenants' group, says: "Landlords can get away with breaking the law for years. Local councils rarely fine landlords for failing to register houses of multiple occupation or not meeting the safety standards, and when tenants go to the police about threatening behaviour or illegal evictions, they can find police take the landlord's side because they don't know these aspects of the law.'