Move can significantly lower upfront expenses for renters in city with one of the world’s highest costs of living
The New York City council passed a bill on Wednesday that will prevent tenants from having to pay fees to brokers hired by landlords.
The move can significantly lower upfront expenses for renters in a city with one of the highest costs of living in the world. The median asking rent in New York City was $3,500 in 2023.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves made funding the NHS a priority but people working in other areas said they were disappointed
Rachel Reeves’s first budget emphasised raising taxes to help the NHS, as the health service tries to cope with huge waiting lists and an ageing population. Funding the NHS was a top priority but people in other sectors – from universities to social care – feel the budget was a missed opportunity to tackle impending crises or introduce desperately needed reforms in their areas.
Continue reading...PM says ‘it’s unacceptable’ when asked about Jas Athwal allegations but adds MP is ‘taking action to put it right’
Keir Starmer has criticised a Labour MP who has been accused of renting out flats with black mould and ant infestations, calling the conditions “unacceptable”.
The prime minister addressed the accusations against Jas Athwal, the MP for Ilford South, on Monday after a report by the BBC quoted several of his tenants complaining about the conditions in the properties they rented from him. One said there were ants “everywhere”, adding: “They are on my kid’s body and on their clothes.”
Continue reading...Jas Athwal, the Ilford South MP, ‘shocked’ by allegations and ‘profoundly sorry’ for condition of his properties
A newly elected Labour MP has been accused of renting out flats with black mould and ant infestations.
Jas Athwal, the MP for Ilford South, owns 15 rental flats, according to a report by the BBC.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves works on plan for 10-year formula to give councils and housing associations certainty
Social housing rents will rise by more than inflation over the next decade as part of UK government plans to boost affordable housebuilding and shore up the finances of struggling landlords.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is working on plans to introduce a 10-year formula to calculate social rent on homes that will result in rents increasing every year by the rate of the consumer prices index – which is now 2.2% – plus 1%, removing an existing cap on rises.
Continue reading...Latest housing data show 151,630 children in temporary accommodation – the most since records began
More than 150,000 children in England are living in temporary accommodation, prompting calls for the government to address what it calls a “national scandal”.
Living in temporary accommodation is considered a form of homelessness and can involve people staying in hostel or bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation.
Continue reading...City is one of few in the US where tenants can be forced to pay fees, despite a landlord having hired the broker
A row is brewing in New York City between renters and real estate brokers, over who pays the thousands of dollars in fees when an apartment is rented.
On 12 June, lawmakers in New York met to discuss the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses act (Fare act), which would require the person who hires the broker to pay the broker fee.
Continue reading...Almost 12,000 rough sleepers were seen by outreach workers in 2023-24, a 19% increase on the previous year
Rough sleeping in the capital has hit the highest level in a decade, with more than 1,100 people living on London’s streets for the first time because of evictions.
The number of new rough sleepers seen for the first time by outreach workers between April 2023 and March 2024, surged 25% to 7,974 people – the highest in at least four years. Almost one in 10 people living on the streets was aged 25 or under – including 13 children.
Continue reading...There were 830,000 unwanted moves in England over the past 12 months, meaning 40% have been forced to relocate
Unwanted home moves cost renters more than half a billion pounds a year, with tenants coughing up an average of £669 every time they are forced by landlords to leave their home, a survey has revealed.
Analysis by the homelessness charity Shelter estimated that there had been 830,000 unwanted moves in England over the past 12 months, meaning 40% of renters who move house are doing so because they have been compelled to look for other accommodation.
Continue reading...Average 13% increase by 2027 will put millions of households under further pressure, says thinktank
Rent rises in Britain are forecast to outpace wage growth, despite having already surged at the fastest pace on record after the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
The Resolution Foundation expects added pressure on millions of households and said average rents could increase by 13% over the next three years as current high growth in the private rental market work their way through existing tenancies.
Continue reading...Tired of overtourism pushing up rental prices, Málaga locals have found a novel way to vent their anger
Incensed after finding out his rental home of 10 years was about to become a tourist apartment, Dani Romero took to social media. What followed swiftly snowballed into a movement, as residents in Málaga began plastering stickers – reading “A family used to live here” or “Go home” – outside tourist lets across the southern Spanish city.
“I didn’t mean to arm a revolution,” said Romero. “I’m just looking for a house to live in.”
Continue reading...Subsidiary of Lazari Investments fined £67,000 for breaches of HMO licence conditions on Camden flats
A family-owned property empire whose holdings include the former Fenwick department store building on London’s Bond Street has seen one of its subsidiaries named on the city’s rogue landlords register and hit with fines totalling £67,000.
The Lazari family have an estimated fortune of £2.5bn, placing them 72nd on the Sunday Times rich list. It is based on a property portfolio that includes some of the most luxurious addresses in central London as well as rental flats in the north of the city.
Continue reading...UK housing minister promises section 21 evictions in England will have ended by time of general election
Michael Gove has vowed that no-fault evictions will be banned this year, as he warned separately that democracy was under threat if young people were shut out from owning their own home in future.
Ministers have come under fire in recent days from campaigners who have said its bill to get rid of so-called section 21 evictions in England, whereby landlords can remove tenants for no reason, is inadequate. The ban was also a pledge made in the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto.
Continue reading...Campaigners say renters served notices of increases of 30% to 60% in advance of cap and other emergency protections ending
Private tenants in Scotland are facing big rent rises and mass evictions as emergency protections expire at the end of next month, campaigners have warned.
The Scottish government has “in effect rubber-stamped rent increases from April”, says Ruth Gilbert, the national campaigns chair of the Scotland-wide tenants’ union Living Rent, while transitional measures are inadequate and confusing, leaving many unaware what their legal rights are.
Continue reading...Rightmove says average advertised price outside London is up 9.2% on a year ago despite fall in some regions
Average private rents in Great Britain have climbed to new record highs, though in some regions there has been a small fall in the amount new tenants are being asked to pay, data shows.
The typical advertised private rent outside London for new properties coming on to the market rose to a record £1,280 a calendar month in the final quarter of 2023, according to the property website Rightmove. That is £2 higher than the £1,278 figure recorded in the third quarter – a sign that rental growth is slowing.
Continue reading...Royal College of Physicians urges government to introduce new law amid rising damp, mould and leaks in social housing
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has called on Michael Gove to accelerate a promised crackdown on landlords failing to fix tens of thousands of mouldy homes with a warning that unless laws are toughened many more people will die from the effects.
As the housing ombudsman reported increasing failures among landlords to properly tackle damp, mould and leaks in England’s social housing, Prof Sir Stephen Holgate, special adviser on air quality to the RCP, warned of widening ill-health as more people inhale fungal toxins.
Continue reading...From building more homes to giving private renters a legal right to buy after longer tenancies
Demand far outstrips supply in private rented housing. More housing of any tenure should reduce excess demand, and with it rents. It could also increase competition among landlords, meaning higher standards, and restore the possibility that young renters could eventually afford to buy.
Continue reading...Angela Rayner says party’s housing recovery plan will enact reforms delayed by Tories since 2019 manifesto commitments
Labour will deliver more action on housing in the first six months of office than the Conservatives have delivered in the past six years, Angela Rayner has pledged.
Downing Street has confirmed the renters reform bill will be in the king’s speech, allowing it to continue its passage through parliament when the next session opens on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Charities fear landlords are pushing evictions through before the renters’ reform bill becomes law
When Kitto Haywood moved into their eighth-floor flat in Manchester last year, they planted tomatoes, strawberries, garlic, carrots and mint in pots on the balcony. It had taken five months to find an ideal home after moving from Brighton. “I finally felt like we were going to be there long-term,” says Haywood.
But over the summer, Haywood, 24, let the plants wilt. On 21 May they received a “no-fault” section 21 eviction notice from their estate agent, telling them to leave in two months. Four months later, they’re still in limbo.
Continue reading...Average rental property receives three times more enquiries from prospective tenants than in 2019
Private home rents in Great Britain have increased to their highest point on record after shortages in supply and mortgage rate rises combined to push the cost up by 10% over the past 12 months.
The average rent for new properties being put on the market now stands at a record £1,278 per calendar month outside London in the July to September period, according to Rightmove.
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