We were shocked at how high the rent increase was. My flatmate and I wouldn't be able to afford that
increase based on the jobs we have and what we currently earn. We love this area and we've lived here for the past six
years. We desperately wanted to stay and we were more than
prepared to stay. London rents increased by 17% during 2022. That's the highest year-on-year increase the city has
recorded since 2007. On average, London's renters who are single earners
spend 48.4% of their income on rent. In 2021, that figure was just 42.7%. Many renters are fighting their landlords on proposed
rent increases or being forced to move as they can no longer afford to pay rent for their homes. Upon closely reading the tenancy agreement with our
other tenants in the building, we realized that together we could
communicate in a way that would challenge the process of the proposed increase. There was no way that we could afford to heat or eat on
that budget, with our rent probably being about a good 90%
of my pay packet. There are also no rent controls in London, meaning that
landlords have the power to charge as much rent as they think is reasonable and can get. In a highly competitive market with more demand than
supply for rental properties, this has led to sky high prices that are unaffordable for many. Renters can try to negotiate or say no, but then they
run another risk: being evicted. My name is Daniel Lloyd. I'm 26 years old and our
landlord has proposed to increase our rent by 27%. My name is Dave Chawner. I'm 33 and our rent went up 26%. So how did we get here? And what does it all mean for renters in London? London is a city of close to 9 million people spread
out over around 607 square miles, which is about twice as large as New
York City. From skyscrapers in the city center to family
homes in the suburbs, it is a highly diverse city and an
international hub. Inner London covers the sort of central part of London,
it covers an area that sort of maybe 20 to 30 minutes commute by public transport. It covers all the international areas. When you get out into the suburbs of London, which is
far more of a market dominated by houses, maybe sort of 35, 40, 50 minutes commute out of the center,
rents fall. So moving into outer London, there's better
value for money. And so you get people on higher incomes moving there. The other thing I'd also add is London has seen a lot
of improvement in public transport. So we've also opened up new markets. Strong transport links are one of the advantages Daniel
and his flatmate enjoy about their home, which is located in outer London. London is just the best place to live. There are so many things to do outdoors and indoors. The transport links are fantastic and enable us to get
to all sorts of different places, to see different people, to meet different
people. Daniel and his flatmate also have to live in London for
their jobs. We love the city and the opportunities that it gives. For me as a reporter, I travel a lot to motor races. Therefore I need access to London's airports. As a writer and comedian, Dave's job also ties him to
the city. I unfortunately don't really have too much choice in
where I am based, so I have to really be in the capital. I love London. It's absolutely incredible. I think it's a beautiful city to live in and to be
honest, I think it gets better as time goes on. When the pandemic happened, lockdowns meant that London
was suddenly much less attractive to live in. Restaurants, bars and activities were shut
down, and working from home meant people no longer had to live
in the city to commute to work. So what we saw over the pandemic was a big hit to
demand. People couldn't travel to the UK, offices were closed,
the economy effectively shut down and the supply of rented homes increased as landlords who
typically rent properties to tourists and short term visitors put those homes into the long term
market. And so we saw rents fall by about 10 to 15%. The market was on the side of renters. But as London and the world reopened, the dynamic on
the rental market shifted, with prices soaring. In December 2022, the median asking rent for a two
bedroom flat in London was £2,400, compared to £1,900 before the pandemic. We started 2021 with a massive oversupply of properties
. In some parts of London, and there was a 50%, 60%
increase in properties on the rental market. So prices were still 20% down from kind of 2019 levels. The demand and supply curve had definitely leveled
out, which then bought the beginning of 2022, which was
completely different and the demand was high and then the stock levels have
dramatically reduced. Daniel lives with his friend in a two-bedroom flat in
southwest London. They moved into the flat in November 2021 and paid a
total of £1,400 a month. In October 2022, their landlord proposed to increase
their rent by 27% to £1,775. The issue is not just affecting them, but almost
everyone living in their building. We understood that some people in some flats were
having their rent increased by £100 per person. That prompted us to knock around and gather
people's numbers, get a group chat together on WhatsApp to discuss our rent situations. And it was there that we found out that people were
facing increases in excess of 25%, some as much as 30%. Daniel and some of his neighbors also have a clause in
their leases that limits by how much rent can be increased and believe the landlord's
initial suggestion would breach this. They reached out to their property manager to
negotiate the increase and received a new offer of £1,750 a month, only £25 less than the original suggested rent increase. They continued to push back but have not heard
anything new from their property manager. We have used the time to get legal aid from other
organizations that are involved in renters rights, so we have an idea of what directions
they could take. But ultimately we're currently sitting waiting,
nervous to see what they're going to say. High prices and low supply have led to fierce
competition amongst renters who now often feel they have to go to great lengths when
trying to secure a property. We often don't have to ask tenants to offer over asking
price. They just offer over asking price because they've lost
out on the last two or three properties that they've bid for. They're offering long leases realizing that
they probably don't want to be looking again in another year. I mean, they sent us in bios, they sent us some
pictures. Applicants who have got pets sent us like pet CVs. Many people here in London are feeling overwhelmed with
the task of finding a new home. Properties are disappearing from real estate websites
within hours, so people need to react to new listings immediately. Scrolling through online property listings. You might find flats advertised for two people, but
with bunk beds or rooms so small, the door doesn't fully open before hitting the
bed frame. These flats now seem to cost what generously sized
spaces did just a year ago. So supply and demand are really out of kilter at the
moment. On the supply side, the average London estate agent
would typically have had 17 to 20 properties for rent on their books. That's down to ten or less than ten at the moment. So there's a real scarcity of homes for renters
looking to rent. And now the economy is opening up. Tourism has restarted. We've also got mortgage rates increasing in the UK. The market is driving this, not estate agents and not
landlords and I think that's probably the misconception. Tenants know they've got to spend over
the asking price. We're not necessarily asking them to do that. They are coming forward with a really good offer
because they know if they don't offer that, then they're going to lose out. Many of London's renters, including Dave and his
partner, have been forced to move. He has been living in the city for around 11 years and
lived in his previous flat in South London for six of them. Dave and his partner paid £950 a month for the one
bedroom flat. But in July 2022, his landlord proposed to increase
rent by 26% to £1,200. We were surprised at how much the rent was going up. And when we said, "Look, I think it's reasonable
that there is going to be inflation, I think it is reasonable that prices do go
up. We will negotiate at, say, 15%. Does that sound good to you?" And they said,
"Absolutely not. It's 26% increase or nothing." I think paying the
higher rental price is absolutely never an option. But also the fact that the landlord is so openly
showed a disregard not only for our wellbeing but also our safety and
health. There were people using drugs on our doorstep, there
were people urinating on our doorstep as well. They'd set up a gas meter wrongly and also I think
unsafely as well. Many of London's renters are still facing an uncertain
future as pressures on the rental market are not expected to ease. Well, I think we're seeing the worst of the big
increase in rents that we have. But I'm afraid I think rents are going to keep rising
at a reasonably rapid rate, maybe in the 4% to 5% bracket, largely because we just
don't have enough supply coming through. We really need to see more
supply in London. A lot of that is going to come off newbuild
development. My advice would be to act quickly. It's really important that the references are
completed within 24 to 48 hours. It's really important that the contract is signed
within 24 to 48 hours. So I would advise renters to think hard about what
they'll compromise on. They will definitely have to be a compromise. After saving for over a decade, Dave and his partner
were able to purchase a flat together on the edge of inner London. Their monthly mortgage is now lower than their
increased rent would have been. We were incredibly fortunate in order to be able to buy somewhere, and I know not everyone is that
fortunate as we were, but the difference is now, instead of paying rent to
pay somebody else's mortgage, we're now paying our own mortgage to
hopefully one day when the year 3000 comes to actually pay off our own
mortgage. Dave is also hopeful that there will be long term
savings as him and his partner can maintain the flat well and make small repairs
themselves. In the long term, actually owning our own flat and
being able to nip things in the bud and maintain the place as it should be, will actually
save us more money. However, buying a property is not an option for the
majority of renters in inner London, as the average property price is £638,000. Daniel and his flatmate are not sure whether they will
be able to stay in their current home, so they have been looking at listings for rental flats. It's difficult admittedly, to find a two double bedroom
flat in London because space is at a premium. However, we have found a few things a bit further out. We would lose a lot of our transport connections that
we have to central London. Paying the higher rent would be impossible for Daniel
and his flatmate. The only other options would be to move back to our
parents houses. But we're 26 year old professionals. It wouldn't be fair on our parents to do that. So we're determined to remain in our current property,
to fight back against the landlord and to state our claim
and get a level of increase that is acceptable and not at the
high levels that they've been proposing to multiple people in the building.
