The body which acts as a watchdog for London, holding mayor Boris Johnson to account, has launched an investigation into the private rental market.
The London Assembly wants to hear from tenants about their experiences.
The housing and regeneration committee says it wants to identify improvements that should be made to the private rented sector, and the reforms needed to ensure that all Londoners living in private rented accommodation get a fair deal.
London’s PRS has around 850,000 homes, housing one in four residents.
It is also increasingly being used to house homeless people and those on benefit, who would have previously lived in social housing.
It is believed that London’s private landlords currently pocket more than £400m of public money a year from local authority placements.
Len Duvall, chair of the housing and regeneration committee, said: “The private rented sector’s role in housing Londoners has grown and evolved dramatically in a relatively short space of time, so it’s time to look at whether the current system is actually working, and where new solutions are needed.
“While there are a lot of good landlords out there, we know there are also some who are quite comfortable with charging exorbitant rents to house families with children in one run-down room. This is not right and needs to be brought to an end.
“The Mayor says he wants to improve standards in the private rented sector, but the time for words is over. We intend to push the Mayor towards delivering practical solutions that will make a genuine difference to improve the quality of life of thousands of Londoners.”
Over a series of public meetings in the autumn, committee members will look at issues including the case for further regulation and licensing of landlords; tenant and landlord rights; and developing the role of private letting agents to help improve conditions.
The committee wants to hear from Londoners who rent privately or have done so in the past. Experiences can be submitted (in confidence) to:
housingandregencommittee@london.gov.uk
Comments
how about being served section 21 when they move in?
and landlords being almost certain to try to retain as much deposit as they can
and not fixing things in a reasonable timeframe
Anyone care to bet against fees and charges to tenants being right at the top of the list?
In case this Committee does not know it any tenant charged an exhorbitant rent for a one bed room if they are on a hybrid sharers AST has the right to go to the RAC during first 6 months of occupancy and challenge the rent.
If it is not at market level they win and get a reduction. Course then they get evicted.