People struggling in Bristol’s crazy private rental housing market are being invited to share their experiences and help make the case for more rent controls.
Mayor Marvin Rees said he wants to ask the Government to let Bristol trial rent caps - but first needs to be sure how renters think they could work, and what other controls could be put in place to ease the spiralling cycle of rising rents, evictions, and people being priced out of the city.
So a special Renting Summit is being held next month, and an appeal has gone out to people with experience of Bristol’s renting market to get involved and share their views.
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The city council has teamed up with the Bristol Fair Renting Campaign, which is supported by Shelter, and the community union ACORN, to host the event on Wednesday, March 2, which will discuss what rent controls might look like in Bristol, as well as how the council are using their existing powers and if there are other powers they could use.
The summit is an online one, with the Mayor of Bristol saying he is determined to raise the issue nationally, and get Bristol to be the first place in the country to pilot rent controls. Currently, there is nothing stopping landlords charging whatever they like for a rental property anywhere in Britain - the last rent cap rules were repealed by the Thatcher Government in 1988.
In Bristol, where demand for rental property vastly exceeds supply, that means rents are skyrocketing, with the average price of a rented property now well over £1,000 a month in most parts of Bristol. Marvin Rees said the summit aimed to start a conversation with people in Bristol about rent controls, reviewing examples of how it has worked in other countries, and considering the best system for Bristol.
“The national housing crisis poses big challenges for our city and tackling it remains one of the council’s top priorities,” he said. “As well as accelerating the building of affordable housing across Bristol, we are currently strengthening our powers to tackle rogue landlords, and we have invested £42 million in improving the energy efficiency of our council homes,” he added.
“I made a manifesto commitment to campaign for the power to introduce rent controls to make Bristol an affordable living city, and we are calling on Government to give us the power to regulate rents.
“Piloting rent control in Bristol will allow us to take a step towards tackling our local renting crisis and will help us develop learnings and that can inform wider positive change for the rest of the city,” he added.
Currently, on the property website Rightmove, there are only 40 rental properties of any kind listed for rent under £600 a month in the whole of Bristol - most for just under £600 and almost all are house-shares. There are 141 properties of any kind listed for rent under £900 a month - most are house shares, bedsits or one-room flats.
And there are 819 properties of any kind listed for more than £1,000 a month. Sarah Fitzgerald from the Bristol Fair Renting Campaign, who are helping to organise the summit, said: “The Fair Renting Campaign has called on the local council to make renting in Bristol fair and affordable for everyone, and they are listening.
“This renters’ summit is an opportunity for Bristol’s renters to add their voice to the call, to tell their stories, and to help shape the future of Bristol’s private rental market. From ending discrimination to exploring rent control measures, this is a moment where we can start to make the changes Bristol needs, and this summit is the first step. So come along and help us shape Bristol’s future,” she added.
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The council’s housing chief Tom Renhard was previously a leading member of the community union ACORN in 2016 and 2017 that forced the council to toughen up its demands on developers to build ‘affordable homes’, and on rolling out licensing systems for landlords in many parts of the city, before getting elected to the council and becoming the cabinet member for housing delivery and homes.
He said there was a ‘rent crisis’ which was part of the wider housing crisis. “Our city is facing a rent crisis. We have ever-increasing rents, no-fault evictions still in effect and demand exceeding supply. There are some homes that are not even fit for habitation in a private rented sector where tenants can struggle to enforce the few rights they have,” he said.
“Bristol rents are out of control and the renting system is not fair, stable or safe. Unaffordable private rents are deepening inequality, as people on lower incomes are at growing risk of homelessness and many are being forced out of the city.
“It’s time for a reset in the relationship and for the national government to give us the powers we need locally to properly regulate privately rented housing. We are asking renters across the city to join us to share their experiences, shape the discussion on enforcement and hear about different models of what a living rent for Bristol could look like if we had the power to introduce rent controls,” he added.
Rents have spiralled in Bristol in large part because house prices have too. The house price-wage-gap has now reached around nine, meaning Bristol residents on average now need to spend almost nine times their annual salary to buy a house, when mortgage companies will generally only lend around three times someone’s wage.
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There are over 134,000 people currently renting privately in Bristol - one in three people living here are private renters.
But while wages have risen by 24 per cent in the past ten years, rents have gone up by 52 per cent - more than twice the increase of people’s pay packets.
ACORN Bristol’s branch secretary is Jo Sparkes. “Everyone deserves decent, affordable and secure housing,” she said. “ACORN has fought for it for years in Bristol and it’s about time that we started pushing the government for proper controls on rent, which is absolutely extortionate for most ordinary Bristolians.
“We’re sick of being ripped off by those landlords who take a huge chunk of our income and give us substandard housing in return.
"We have consistently campaigned for the council to push for rent controls and welcome the Bristol administration’s renewed commitment on this issue. ACORN members look forward to working with the Mayor and Cllr Tom Renhard to win affordable rents across the city,” she added.
The summit will take place on Wednesday March 2 between 6.30pm and 8.30pm. Tickets can be booked online.
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