Our most recent cost-of-living dashboard revealed the picture of people's increasingly worsening financial crises. In the first week of December we helped more people with food bank referrals and emergency charitable support than in any other week on record. That's 3.5 people every minute.

The situation for renters is particularly worrying. Our cost-of-living dashboard also shows us that of the people we help with debt advice, private renters are one of the most likely groups to be in a negative budget, where they have more essential spending going out than they have money coming in.

Private renters face the burden of ever increasing rents, and have little control in the market. To help renters weather the ongoing crisis, the Government must bring forward existing reform plans as soon as possible and consider other interventions as renters' costs rise.

Rising rents and high costs are not a new problem

Rents have been creeping up for years. But we're now seeing more people concerned about rent increases and more significant rises.

Views of our webpages on 'Dealing with a rent increase' and 'Challenging a rent increase' have been increasing since December 2021. In October 2022, the page 'Dealing with a rent increase' had 22,495 views — the most in the page's history and more than double the amount it received in the same month in 2021.

We're hearing the same thing from our frontline advisors. Adviser feedback and our case study reports suggest people coming to us for help with private rent increases are seeing average increases of 20%. We're also seeing more cases across the country of tenants who have had their rent doubled.

These increases come at a time when tenants are least able to cope with increases in their most significant outgoings. Our previous polling on the cost-of-living crisis found that in July 2022, 18% of private renters were already behind on their gas and energy bills. As prices continue to rise, many renters coming to us for help are having to decide between paying for their rent, energy bills and other essentials. Many tenants simply can't balance their budget, and fall into debt.

The same polling from July 2022 also reported that 14% of private renters were behind on their rent. As household budgets are squeezed further and rents rise, we worry that payment plans will fall apart and debts will worsen. We also worry that under increasing pressure, more renters will fall into arrears for the first time.

The cost of unaffordability

In the last few months of 2022, we saw an increase in demand for advice on all types of eviction. This increased by 14% between September and October 2022. Between September and November 2022, we also saw a 13% increase in the number of people coming to us for help with an eviction due to arrears.

Most people who have come to us for help with eviction have been issued a Section 21 (S.21) notice — meaning the landlord doesn't need to give a reason for the eviction.

Our advisors tell us that the increase in S.21 evictions alongside increases in already unaffordable rents is no coincidence Tenants who push back against unreasonable and unjustified rent increases are often met withthreats of a S.21 eviction.

To make matters worse, tenants who are evicted for being unable to afford rent increases are unlikely to find a cheaper alternative. As market rents increase, these evicted households become at risk of homelessness.

The Government must act on its promise to legislate the Renters Reform Bill

With the cost-of-living crisis getting worse, our data shows that renters are increasingly struggling to make ends meet.

But the Government already has plans that would help renters manage the challenges of rising rents and evictions. The Renters Reform Bill offers disempowered and financially stretched private renters:

• A doubled notice period for rent increases, giving tenants additional breathing space to negotiate and challenge increases
• More power to challenge unjustified rent increases
• Additional security in enforcing their rights through the removal of 'no fault' Section 21 evictions
• A new Private Renters' Ombudsman to enable disputes between private renters and landlords to be settled quickly and at a low cost

To help support renters through the cost-of-living crisis, the Government must move to pass the Renters Reform Bill soon as possible.

These reforms won't end the challenges for private renters

For the market and private renters to benefit most from reform, the Government must be prepared to consider targeted cost-of-living interventions for renters. Like by unfreezing Local Housing Allowance rates to prevent renters on low incomes from falling behind.

Our data paints a picture of increasing hardship for renters in 2023. The Government must empower renters to defend them from the severe consequences of eviction, debt and homelessness.

Chloe Hann

Policy Research Assistant at Citizens Advice working on housing and consumer policy.

Published in

We are Citizens Advice