The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today published shocking new City Hall analysis revealing unchecked private rents in London could soar to upwards of £2,700 pcm next year.
The Mayor is renewing his longstanding plea to Government to protect London’s 2.7m renters and urgently introduce a two-year rent freeze as the capital’s housing crisis worsens.
The Mayor has consistently been on the side of London’s renters and has repeatedly warned of the real-life consequences of unaffordable private rents, coupled with the spiralling cost-of-living. He recently wrote to Ministers warning of a wave of repossessions in the capital.
Sadiq has been clear that record high rents are a symptom of the housing crisis and he is urging Government to act now to fix London’s broken housing system. The long-term delivery of more affordable housing is essential and must be met with a serious funding commitment from the Government.
A lack of action from Government now means that Londoners are at risk of greater financial hardship, as new City Hall figures show that unchecked private rents could reach over £2,700 per month in the capital next year – up from the current average rent of £2,567, according to Rightmove.
London’s sky-high rents have created a situation where 49 per cent of children in private rented homes live in poverty. If a two-year rent freeze were to be introduced renters could save £3,374 on average – with £887 saved in the first year alone and £2,487 in the second year. The total saving is £386 more than when this analysis was last conducted by City Hall in March 2022.
London’s renters are facing multiple crises from escalating rents, insecure tenancies and unsafe homes. The Mayor’s call on Ministers to immediately implement long-promised renters reform legislation and to take action to make rents more affordable for Londoners has so far fallen on deaf ears.
Sadiq has and will continue to call on Government to deliver the £4.9 billion that is needed each year to build the affordable housing that is so desperately needed, and push for the powers to freeze rents to protect Londoners right now.
The Mayor today met with Londoner Alexandra Rodriguez-Romero at her rented home in Sutton, whose story of soaring rents and housing insecurity is sadly becoming more commonplace. Alexandra received a no-fault eviction notice from her former landlord and was told she could only stay if she paid £450 more in rent each month.
Following this, Alexandra moved into her current two-bedroom home where she pays £1750 a month in rent – £400 more than she was previously paying – and has now been told her new landlord is thinking about selling the property. Alexandra, like many other Londoners, now fears her rent will go up even further or that she’ll face eviction once again.
While the Mayor currently does not have the powers to reduce private rents and keep them at affordable levels, he has been at the forefront of delivering record levels of new housing in the capital. In recent years, City Hall has completed more homes of all types than at any time since the 1930s, built more council homes than at any time since the 1970s, and exceeded its ambitious target of building 116,000 new genuinely affordable homes in the capital. Yet the housing crisis has been decades in the making, and given supply will not meet demand for some time, measures to help renters are crucial.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “These figures reveal the clearest picture yet of why rent controls are so necessary. Private renters make up nearly a third of everyone living in the capital, but they are being consistently let down by a Government that refuses to listen and take urgent action to protect them from even greater financial hardship.
“Londoners re-elected me on a manifesto pledge to push for the powers to control rents and I will not stop advocating for this lifeline on their behalf. I am delivering on my promise to build a better, fairer and more prosperous London by building more affordable homes in the capital and providing vital support to Londoners through the cost-of-living crisis. It’s about time the Government did the same.”
Ben Twomey, Chief Executive of Generation Rent, said: “Spiralling rents are driving families into poverty and on to the streets. That is why we support the Mayor’s call for devolved powers to take action to stabilise rents. The average London renter is already putting 40 percent of their wages straight into their landlord’s pocket, and this situation shows no sign of improving on its own.
“Controlling rents doesn’t address the lack of homes that allows landlords to charge so much on new tenancies. To tackle that we also need a big increase in the supply of social and affordable homes, and the Mayor is right to call for funding to build as much of this as possible in London. Without action, Londoners will continue to face sky-high rents which are forcing the likes of nurses and teachers out of the city and hollowing out our communities.”
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