Five councils have employed the Generation Rent activist group to help “understand the issues” of the private rental sector.
Safe Suffolk Renters is the name of a group which involves all five of the county’s district and borough councils, working “to improve experiences of the private rented sector for both landlords and tenants.”
It worked with Generation Rent to “better understand and evidence some of the various housing issues in the county.”
One of the concerns raised around renting was cost – rents are continuing to rise impacting on people’s ability to afford to live in Suffolk.
Three quarters of respondents reported struggling to find an affordable home to rent in their local area, while half of those surveyed reported a rent increase in the last six months, with an average monthly increase of £58.
The majority of respondents also reported issues in their home which required landlord attention at some point, but less than half experienced a successful resolution, and most had to either fix the problem themselves (26%) or allow the problem to go unresolved (30%).
Safe Suffolk Renters is now looking to carry out what it calls “even more proactive and targeted inspections using other evidence at its disposal, to improve this issue.”
National issues around security of tenure were equally prominent, with Section 21 evictions apparently leaving some hesitant to make complaints or ask for repairs.
The engagement work also highlighted that issues in the private rented sector affected older people as much as younger generations.
An East Suffolk councillor says: “The majority of Suffolk landlords provide good quality accommodation – and this report highlights both positive and negative experiences for renters.
“Safe Suffolk Renters works with landlords and tenants to support solutions to poor housing conditions and enable self-regulation, while bringing to light landlords who do not engage and improve their properties. It’s important to protect renters from housing insecurity risk arising from existing and emerging factors.”
And Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, adds: “The experience of Suffolk renters is now out in the open. Despite the relative advantage of more affordable homes compared to the surrounding area, tenants in Suffolk are under threat from rising rents, a proliferation of short term lets, and the risk of eviction even if they have done nothing wrong.
“Generation Rent welcomes Safe Suffolk Renters’ proactive efforts to recognise these trends and is confident that the project will lead to more empowered tenants living in better homes. It has been a pleasure to partner with them on this project.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today