Tenants face having to find extra £1,000 for 2022 rent and bills

Hamptons expects sums to become 54% of post-tax income for average rented household in Great Britain

Tenants already struggling with the cost of living crisis typically face having to find an extra £1,000 this year to cover higher rent and essential bills, research shows.

The estate agent Hamptons said tenants’ finances faced a record squeeze as higher rents and energy bill increases combined to pile more pressure on households in Great Britain.

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Thousands of UK students caught in rent trap by private landlords

While campuses are shut by Covid-19, students are still being forced to pay for unused accommodation

Notttingham Trent University students Eleanora Brown and her boyfriend Nizar Ruiz are in lockdown at home in Norwich, with no prospect of returning to campus any time soon. The teaching buildings are closed and the university has released all of its tenants from paying rent this term. Yet their hall of residence, run by Collegiate, a private developer, is demanding £1,700 from each of its residents to cover the summer term.

While students at most university-owned accommodation do not have to pay rent for the third term, Brown and Ruiz are among thousands of students trapped in expensive contracts with private hall operators.

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Coronavirus: renters to be protected from eviction says Johnson – video

The prime minster has said the government will bring forward emergency legislation to protect private renters from eviction amid the coronavirus pandemic. His comments came after the Labour leader said private tenants were ‘worried sick’ they might not be able to pay their rents if they fell ill

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Peterborough prepares for byelection that could elect first Brexit party MP

A decade ago it was the UK’s fastest growing city, but hit by cuts and buy-to-let, support for Nigel Farage’s party is high

On Thursday, voters in Peterborough will take part in one of the most intriguing parliamentary byelections in recent memory. The constituency saw a knife-edge duel between Labour and the Conservatives at the 2017 general election and at last month’s European poll, 38% of voters in the city backed the Brexit party. A first seat in the House of Commons for Nigel Farage’s party is a distinct possibility. If that happens, it will send tremors through middle England, of which Peterborough is typical in many ways, not just geographically.

Economically, Peterborough performs averagely amid struggles with productivity. Wages are stagnant and it has been reshaped by migration, with foreigners arriving to work in the surrounding farmlands and distribution depots, contributing to a decade as the UK’s fastest growing city between 2001 and 2011.

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Why London’s not such a capital place to live | Letter

Figures that appear to show Londoners are significantly better off than people in other parts of Britain don’t tell the whole story, says Maggie Kemmner

The article (Big regional gaps revealed in disposable incomes across UK, 23 May) is very misleading. It makes no allowances for the increased housing costs most Londoners face.

In February 2019, Londoners spent the biggest proportion of their income on rent as compared to other areas of the UK; more than one third of a household’s income. The average monthly rental was £1,599 as compared to a £940 UK average. Over a year, this amounts to £7,908 extra housing costs: which pretty much wipes out the “extra money” that Londoners have to spend post-tax as compared to the UK average. This data is from statistica.com.

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