Tenants of two-bed homes in London need to earn £52,000 a year

Privately renting a two-bedroom home in London has become unaffordable for anyone on less than £52,000 a year, Shelter has said.

It said that almost one in four London families now rents from a private landlord – an increase of 70% in the past two years.

Rent Watch London, part of Shelter’s Homes for London campaign, found that to pay the rent on a two-bed home, a family would need to take home almost £3,500 each month, equivalent to a yearly pre-tax salary of £52,000.

In eight London boroughs, including Hackney and Tower Hamlets, families would need to earn more than £60,000 a year.

The rate of inflation on private rents in London was 7% last year, says Shelter, and the typical London household income is under £35,000.

Shelter is warning that growing numbers of families are at crisis point, paying up to half of their income in rent each month as they struggle to continue living and working in the capital.

Its campaign is demanding that the next Mayor of London uses their influence to make housing a top priority, and protects families from what is dubs the capital’s out-of-control rental market.

Shelter’s chief executive, Campbell Robb, said: “These findings paint a worrying picture of thousands of families across the capital being stretched to the limit by the high cost of renting, praying they won’t be hit by another rent rise that could tip them over the edge.

“With so many Londoners locked out of home ownership, more and more families have no other option but to rent. But rents are now so out of touch with wages that some families are spending over half of their income just to keep a roof over their head, leaving little left for food, fuel and other essentials.”