A business owner has spoken of Bristol's "devastating" rental market after struggling for six months to find somewhere to move to. Lara King, originally from Nailsea, has been renting in and around Easton for the last ten years.
Like many who find themselves stuck in the private rental housing market, she has moved from place to place over the years. Now with her own successful business on Fishponds Road, she said her current financial position is better than it has ever been - but finding a place to rent reasonably close to her Eastville natural hair salon feels impossible.
Since June, Lara, whose son attends the local nursery, has been searching for properties and putting adverts on local Facebook and Whatsapp groups, hoping a private landlord might see and offer her family somewhere to live. Lara believes herself to be in a fortunate situation with her family-of-three - she said although they are living with damp and mould in their current rental, she is not facing immediate eviction so has more time to look for somewhere else than most renters.
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She said: "The whole situation in housing, whether you’re renting or looking to buy something, is devastating, it’s bleak." Lara and her partner, who are both self-employed, are in a position to secure a mortgage.
But with the current interest rates, Lara said the repayments would be too high so she is still looking to rent. Being a hairdresser means that Lara meets a wide range of people and she said that she has met people from all walks of life who are struggling to find housing in Bristol - from couples who have a joint income of £100,000 to those in unhappy marriages who are forced to stay together but can’t move.
Not long ago Lara let out a room in the house the family rents in Fishponds, and said that in the first three hours they were getting one inquiry a minute. While they are in no rush to move out of the house they are currently renting, Lara has been looking for somewhere else nearby since June 2022 and has even considered moving to Wales which she understands has seen rental increases from an influx of Bristolians moving there.
Although she has somewhere to stay for now, so can be fussy, she said she has made a total of 50 property inquiries so far. Out of those, they have been able to view a total of ten, but she said all ten were offered to other applicants.
Lara said: “Rents have pretty much doubled in the last few years. My concern is that I’m earning the best I’ve ever earned and I should be able to afford to live somewhere.
“I’d love to stay here and that’s why I’ve been waiting because I can wait. But it makes me scared because there are people who can’t wait to move out.
“If I was earning now what I was earning five years ago there’s no way I would be accepted on anything in Bristol. And that is what most people are earning.
“I’m quite comfortable financially for the first time in my life but still have no stability in housing. So what is it like for other people?
“I know people who are in their 40s and 50s who’ve been nursing for 20 years and they’re still renting because they can’t afford to buy a house and are frustrated. I’m hearing across a whole spectrum of classes and incomes.
“I know people who are trapped in marriages and they can’t leave because they can’t afford anywhere. I know a couple who are going through that right now, they are being forced to live together and it’s really quite toxic and I imagine that can get a lot worse [in relationships which] can be abusive and violent.
“There are people living on boats and in vans over in Greenbank View because they had massive credit card bills and couldn’t get a rental property. I know Scotland's put in rent controls which we should have been doing five to ten years ago."
Zoopla and several banks have predicted that house prices will fall this year, but the rental market still seems to be booming. According to The Letting Game, which markets itself as 'Bristol’s best letting agent', the increases seen in Bristol’s rental market in 2022 show no sign of slowing down this coming year.
Agents there say they are expecting the volume of demand for rental properties to continue to be “far above the level of available properties”. With the cost of living crisis, the award-winning agency reassures landlords in their 2023 report that their affordability checks can help find the “right tenant”. While the Renters' Reform Bill could end no-fault evictions, the Letting Game predicts that it is unlikely to be implemented for at least six months.
The agency's report on Bristol’s rental market adds: "With uncertain times, increased costs, and a competitive rental market, more and more tenants are choosing to stay in their Bristol rental for longer. With tenants sitting longer it’s important to make sure that rental values are regularly checked."
While the Renters' Reform Bill may see an end to no-fault evictions, which have been on the increase since evictions were banned during the pandemic, more tenants are likely to fall behind in rent. In September 2022, a report from the charity Shelter estimated that 2.5 million renters had either fallen behind payments or struggling to keep up with rent increases, which had hit 1.1 million people in England in that month alone.
The rate of those struggling to pay rent had increased by 45 per cent in a six month period. The charity has predicted "a huge surge in homelessness" with their latest poll showing over 200,000 people having recently seen a rent increase of £300 a month and many more with increases of over £100.
They are urging the government to unfreeze the current housing benefit cap. If you would like to share your experience of renting in Bristol, email bristolpostnews@localworld.co.uk.
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