Private renters face “a double whammy” of poor-quality housing and a lack of security, data from Citizens Advice shows.  

Almost one in two, or 45%, private renters in England live with damp, mould or excessive cold in their homes, a survey conducted for the charity found.  

It points out that 48% of these renters have been living with these issues for over a year.    

The body adds that private renters live with the “constant threat of losing their home” due to the lack of proper processes to challenge their landlord, leaving them open to “the risk of receiving a retaliatory eviction when they do speak up”.  

The charity says it helps almost 100 people a day with section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions.

King’s Speech

In Labour’s King’s Speech last week, the new government promised to “immediately” abolish ‘no-fault’ evictions and “prevent private renters being exploited and discriminated against”.  

However, Citizens Advice chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty says: “The government must follow through on its promises and improve the lives of private renters.   

“This means raising the quality of privately rented housing, tackling runaway rents, and bringing in a watertight ban of section 21 evictions so renters aren’t afraid to challenge poor conditions.”  

The charity’s survey says that private renters are forced to pay “skyrocketing sums despite poor housing conditions”.   

Average rents

Private renters on a low income spend are forecast to spend 53% of their income on energy and housing costs this year. This compares with 46% of those living in social housing and 40% for those who own their homes.    

Private rents in the UK increased by 8.6% in the 12 months to June, according to data from the Office for National Statistics last week.  

Average rents increased by 8.6% to £1,310 in England, 8.2% to £743 in Wales, and 8.4% to £959 in Scotland, in the year to June.  

Moriarty adds: “A warm, safe home, free of damp and mould should be a fundamental right.   

“Yet private renters are paying through the roof for increasingly decrepit housing which eats up their hard-earned cash and puts their health at risk.”  

The body adds the government’s renters bill must also:  

• Permanently link financial support for renters to real rent prices by matching Local Housing Allowance to the cheapest 30% of rents in an area  
• Require landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their properties by bringing them up to a minimum energy performance certificate grade of C  

However, this week buy-to-let house purchase lending fell by more than half in 2023, with the number of new loans falling from 25,280 in the last quarter of 2022 to just 12,422 in the first quarter of this year, according to UK Finance data this week.    

The bank body adds that the number of outstanding BTL mortgages also shrank for the first time, falling from 2.039 million in the first quarter of last year to 1.98 million in the first quarter of this year.    

It says: “Rapidly rising interest rates played a major role in this trend, making it harder for those looking to buy a BTL property to pass lenders’ affordability tests.”    

The Citizens Advice poll was conducted by data group YouGov, which sampled 2,015 private renters online in England between 12 and 14 June.