Industry News


Students paying upto 26 per cent more in rent while at uni


The cost of renting for the average student has increased by 8 per cent over the last five years, but this climbs to asmuch as 26 per cent in some regions. Currently, the average student in Britain


pays out £132 per week in rent, although in London, it is as high as £152 per week - the most expensive of all British regions. However, when analysing the cost of


renting for students over the last five years, research byManor Interiors shows that London is one of just two regions to see the cost paid per week actually fall.


Failure to tackle criminal landlords is laid bare by research


In 2017, the average London student paid £182 perweek in rent but this has since fallen to £152 perweek - a 16 per cent drop.


Scotland has also seen the cost of renting


fall for students, with a 2 per cent fallmeaning they now pay an average of £127 per week. But every other area of Britain has seen the


average level of student rent increase. The East Midlands has seen the largest increase, with students now paying £129 per week - a 26 per cent increase in just five years. The North West and Yorkshire and theHumber have also seen student rental costs increase bymore than 20 per cent since 2017. The SouthWest,Wales and South East


have all seen double-digit increases of between 16 and 11 per cent, with the North East (9),WestMidlands (7) and East of England (3) also seeing increases, albeit of a smaller size. CEO ofManor Interiors, FarhanMalik,


commented: “An extra £11 a week might not seem that significant but every penny counts when you’re a student and over the course of a year, they are now paying a considerably higher price in rent compared to just five years ago.”


management of private rented housing over the last three years. The National Residential Landlords Association


T


is warning that this failure to take action against the criminal minority brings the whole sector into disrepute and risks undermining further reformof the sector. The NRLA obtained the data via Freedomof


Information Act requests from283 local authorities across England. In the three years between 2018/2019 and 2020/21, 67 per cent had not successfully prosecuted a lsingle andlord for offences related to standards in or themanagement of private rented housing. A further 10 per cent had secured just one successful prosecution. Overall, just 20 councils were responsible for 77


per cent of all successful prosecutions. The three councils with the highest number of prosecutions (Southwark, BirminghamandHull) were responsible for 38 per cent of all such action across England. Of these, BirminghamandHull did not have a local landlord licensing scheme in place. Among those councils responding, just 937


successful prosecutions of criminal landlords had taken place over the past three years. This is despite Government estimates in 2015 that theremay be around 10,500 rogue landlords in operation. The new data follows research published earlier


this year by the NRLA showing that over the same three years, 53 per cent of English councils had issued no civil penalties against private landlords. While the Government has pledged to publish a White Paper on reformof the private rented sector


16 | HMMDecember/January 2022 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


wo thirds of English councils have failed to prosecute any landlords for offences related to standards in or the


next year, the NRLA is warning that a failure to enforce the wide range of powers already available to tackle criminal and rogue landlords will critically undermine further reform. The NRLA is calling on the Government to


provide councils with themulti-year funding needed to ensure they are properly resourced to take action against criminal landlords. According to research by Unchecked UK the amount spent on housing standards by local authorities in England fell by 45 per cent between 2009 and 2019. Thismust, the NRLA argues, happen alongside a


requirement for councils to publish details of formal and informal enforcement activity against private landlords on an annual basis. This is vital to ensuring that they can be held to account for efforts to tackle criminal and rogue landlords. Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the NRLA, said:


“The vastmajority of responsible landlords are sick and tired of a failure to root out the minority who bring the sector into disrepute. The problem is not a lack of powers, but a failure by councils to enforce them properly. “While ensuring councils have the resources


they need is vital, so too is the need for them to be more transparent about the levels of enforcement they are taking. In short, local authorities need to prioritise activity to find and root out criminal landlords, ensuring it is they whomeet the costs of such efforts. “Our research illustrates also that there is no clear


link between the existence of a landlord licensing scheme and levels of prosecutions. Councils again need to be open with tenants and landlords about how such schemes are ensuring standards aremet in rental housing.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36