Shelter is one of the most basic human needs. For all the incredible improvements economic growth and technological development have delivered over the last half century, the declining availability and increasing cost of housing has been the most significant constraint on people’s quality of life.
The sale of council housing enabled more people to access home ownership for the first time, but the scale of the discount and restrictions Conservatives put on councils building new units meant the UK’s social housing stock has never recovered. At the same time, continuous reductions in house building, has meant that house prices have risen faster than wages, cutting-off access to private home ownership for younger generations.
Into the gap, came the growth of the private rented sector, without which an increasingly large part of the population could not be housed. Unfortunately, like any area where there is a shortage of supply, this has left tenants vulnerable to unscrupulous behaviour by some landlords.
We need to fix the housing system as a whole. Planning reform will enable housing stock to grow at a rate more in-line with demand and the Government is working to increase affordable housing levels with £39bn put aside for new properties, in addition to new New Towns and greater freedoms for councils to deliver.
For private renters though, this month is significant, as the Renters’ Rights Act has come into law, requiring private rented properties to be maintained to a higher standard, giving tenants better security of tenure—including an end to no-fault evictions, enabling tenants to challenge rent increases, and reducing the right of landlords to refuse pet-ownership while denying them entirely the ability to refuse people on the basis of children or being on benefits.
It’s a landmark change in the law, the biggest improvement in rental conditions ever, offering people more certainty over their housing, better living conditions, new limits on the costs involved, and further freedoms to enjoy the property they are paying to live in. Unfortunately, with Reform pledged to scrap the Act, renters may only have until the next election to enjoy it.
Peter Lamb MP