It’s no secret that renting in London is a wild ride.
It’s always been expensive, but as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, it’s becoming more and more difficult to live in the city.
In 2023, research conducted by property website Rightmove found that the average rent reached £2,500 in London and £1,190 in the rest of the UK – and that figure is now set to worsen.
New analysis from City Hall has revealed that unchecked private rents in the capital could skyrocket up to or even exceed £2,700 per month by 2024. Yep, you read that correctly *cries in overdraft*.
Given the average salary in the capital now sits at £41,860 or around £3,488 per month, even those in well-paid work could have to spend upwards of three quarters of their income on housing, while accommodation will become even more unaffordable for those earning less.
These exorbitant prices have translated to a situation in which 49% of children in private rented homes live in poverty, with the Mayor of London now backing a two-year rent freeze to ease the burden of unchecked rental costs.
If Sadiq Khan is allowed to hit the pause button on spiralling rents, the proposed policy could save each household £3,374 on average over a two-year period. In the first year alone, London’s 2.7 million renters could save £887, jumping up to £2,487 during the second.
But there’s a catch – the UK Government needs to grant permission for rent controls to be introduced. As such, Khan is calling for the provision of £4.9 billion a year to help fix London’s housing shortage.
Meanwhile, a BBC investigation released earlier this week found that London tenants earning more than £30,000 are being told their salary is insufficient even to qualify them for alleged affordable housing schemes.
These deals see lower income renters eligible for rates below the average market value – but some landlords have argued that tenants need to earn between £35,000 and £60,000 just to be accepted.
‘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’, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said.
‘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.’
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