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17/12/25 3:30 pm
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Tenants could be afraid to complain about poor conditions due to the threat of rent rises, despite gaining new rights, tenant groups have told MPs.
During the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee evidence session into the likely impact of the Renters’ Rights Act, Anny Cullum, policy officer and researcher for renters’ union ACORN (pictured), said the legislation did not go far enough on rental affordability, Inside Housing reports.
“We would like to see much stricter controls on how much rents can go up, because we are concerned that economic evictions or landlords raising rents to levels that tenants can’t afford could be used as a backdoor mechanism to retaliate against a complaint, and we do worry that some renters will still fear enforcing these new rights,” Cullum told MPs.
Nye Jones, head of campaigns at Generation Rent, said it too wanted to see limits on rent rises. He added that although the government “continually” referred to the first-tier tribunal process as a way to stop unaffordable rent hikes, nearly seven in 10 renters had never heard of, or knew very little, about it.
Jones added that without tribunal capacity and knowledge, economic evictions could still take place, meaning renters couldn’t hold landlords to account on conditions.
“Renters are by far the most likely to experience fuel poverty, more than one in five, and if renters are going to enjoy cheaper, warmer homes, then we need to see protection against unaffordable rent hikes after retrofitting,” he said.
The evidence session, which also heard from Propertymark and the NRLA, was told by Shelter that the charity sees “very serious, life-threatening hazards” as well as “awful conditions” that affect tenants’ mental as well as physical health.
Policy manager Deborah Garvie highlighted the difficulties of getting these issues fixed and the risk that “by trying to improve standards, you’ll lose your home”.
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