Half of renters ‘have damp or cold home’

ALMOST half of private renters in England are living in homes that are cold, damp or mouldy, even in the summer, Citizens Advice has warned.

A survey by the advisory service found 45% of private renters are currently experiencing damp, mould or excessive cold in their home, and 48% of these households have been living with the disrepair for more than a year.

The charity’s data showed private renters on low incomes were expected to spend 53% of their income on energy and housing costs this year, compared with 46% for those living in social housing and 40% for those who own their homes.

A third of private renters in England – 32%, or 3.4 million – have had to borrow money to cover their rent, and 17% have gone without heating, hot water or electricity to do so, the study suggests.

Unaffordability and poor quality housing in the private rental sector was made worse by tenants’ lack of protection and security, with renters living with the constant threat of losing their home, and leaving them running the risk of receiving a retaliatory eviction if they did speak up, the survey found.

Citizens Advice said it was helping almost 100 people a day with section 21 “no-fault” evictions.

More than a third of renters (37%) who have lived with damp, cold or mould said they had never complained to their landlord, with 51% citing the fear of retaliation, including eviction or a rent increase, as the reason.

Citizens Advice said the Government must bring in “robust” legislation to address affordability, disrepair and security in the sector.

It has called for a permanent link between financial support for renters and real rent prices by matching Local Housing Allowance to the cheapest 30% of rents in an area.

It also wants to see a “watertight” ban of Section 21 evictions to give renters confidence to challenge housing conditions and unfair rent hikes, and a requirement of landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their properties.

Citizens Advice chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty said: “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 hardearned cash and puts their health at risk. To make matters worse, renters have little power and live with the constant threat of eviction hanging over their heads.

“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.”

Last week, the King’s Speech included a promise that Labour would “take action where the previous Government has failed” on protections for renters - including ending no-fault evictions.

Its Renters’ Rights Bill would take up the baton on tackling issues that campaigners said the Conservatives’ Renters (Reform) Bill - which fell after Rishi Sunak called the General Election - had failed on.

That Bill, which had been described by homelessness charity Shelter as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to address problems facing renters, had reached its second reading in the House of Lords when the General Election was called and Parliament was dissolved.

A promise within it to end Section 21 so-called no-fault evictions had been delayed, much to the dismay of campaigners, with the previous government saying the ban could not be implemented until the courts were assessed to have the capacity to deal with new cases.