Protesters made up of a coalition of tenants’ groups held a demonstration at City Hall in London as councillors met to discuss the private rented sector.
Activists from Digs, Brent Private Tenants Rights Group, Haringey Housing Action Group and Housing for the 99% succeeded in bringing the meeting to a standstill.
They were protesting against high rents and letting agents’ fees. The protesters called on London councillors to follow Scotland’s example in making letting agent fees to tenants illegal.
They also protested against retaliatory evictions, which they said were when landlords evicted tenants who had stood up for their rights.
Waving banners and singing housing-themed carols, they protested over what they called the imbalance of rights of landlords over private tenants, extortionate rents and insecure, poor-quality private rented housing.
They also gave out leaflets and shouted out their demands as London Assembly members arrived for the meeting.
Inside the meeting, activists presented their demands for rent controls, longer and more secure tenancies and an end to letting agents’ fees.
On the Digs website, it says: “There were gasps from GLA members as Lewisham Tenants’ Relations Officer Ben Reeve Lewis described letting agents and landlords violently threatening and physically abusing their tenants, something he comes across on a regular basis.
“Speakers were asked whether complaints from private tenants were increasing, to which the answer was a resounding ‘yes’. But some speakers urged GLA members to recognise that the majority of tenants, particularly vulnerable ones, will never complain, no matter how bad their housing situation.
“Shockingly, David Lawrenson from consultancy firm Letting Focus revealed that not only are some mortgage lenders restricting the length of tenancies landlords can offer, they are also stopping landlords from letting to people in receipt of benefits. The fact that some of these mortgage lenders were state-owned banks made the revelation all the more shocking.”
Lawrenson and Heather Kennedy, of Digs, both called for a rent control model that works successfully in Germany, where a three to five-year tenancy is offered and the rent rises are no higher than inflation.
Earlier this week, London Mayor Boris Johnson launched proposals for a voluntary London Rental Standard. But the protesters said it does not go far enough.
Christine Haigh, from Housing for the 99%, said: “We’re being ripped off with poor-quality, insecure housing, and urgently need action to raise standards and control rents.”
Comments
reality is housing market and prices have been bailed out by hmg by recducing rates to 0.5%
had they stayed at 5.75% prices would be down 30-50% or more and the same 'wasters' would be buying the liquidated portfolios of the reckless
historically propping up markets is the economics of madness and is likely to be proved so
Its not the fees that are the issue but clarity , It should be made a legal requirement that on the property details in a letting agents window or on a listing on rightmove et all there are a full list of the fees charged .If it then says admin charge £240 credit check £150 check out fees £500 or whatever the crazy amounts letting agents charge on the details then prospective tenants don’t have to walk through the door ,if they do then they accept the fees being charged . The way tenants are fooled at the moment is that they like a particular property they do a viewing pay a holding fee and maybe credit check fees and then have all the other fees sprung upon them, this is what has to change.
As a private landlord I have never used agents and have people seeking me out all this time , I can fill any vacant property in days as do most private landlords who let their own property , tenants tend to stay in longer reducing my turn around costs and from a tenants point of view they get a better deal at the outset and throughout the tenancy .
As has been posted in the comments above there are numerous ways tenants can find private landlords however private landlord directory.com is the only portal for private landlords only , it works on the principles set out above where tenants can see the fees upfront , landlords can advertise free and although newly launched is growing remarkably quickly
I think landlords whether running their properties as a business or have become accidental landlords will find it beneficial to deal with their tenants directly and the feedback I get is that tenants prefer it too .
Oh so its not compulsory for a tenant to use an estate agent to rent a property. As @V.N says they can go elsewhere.
Bunch of wasters all of them.
You can see the level of intelligence behind mob action of this sort - they bring to a standstill a meeting whose sole purpose was to discuss the private rental sector!
These are the same sort of people who rampaged across the UK during the poll tax riots and various other riots. Putting their view across in a rational and civilised manner is not in their vocabulary
"......Activists from Digs, Brent Private Tenants Rights Group, Haringey Housing Action Group and Housing for the 99% succeeded in bringing the meeting to a standstill....".
Seriously, this is moving into the realms of anarchy
This is ridiculous... The law is already on the tenants side! If agents can't charge the tenants agency fees, then just like in Scotland; most agents will shut down within 6 months....
Tenants have the option of finding properties to rent direct in newspapers, loot and gumtree etc; if they choose to rent a property through a lettings agent then they should expect to pay these fees as we don't work for free.
I agree that some agencys charge extortionate fees, however, my company does not. Maybe there should be cap on what can be charged, rather than banning it all together.