Rental prices across London are taking up higher fractions of people’s income, and Brent has experienced the biggest rise in one-bedroom prices in recent years, official data shows.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that one-bedroom properties in Brent, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster this year cost on average the highest proportions of gross income, before tax and other deductions were made.
The median monthly rent for a one-bedroom property in Brent was £1,195 in the 12 months to September 2022 but increased by £755, 63%, to £1,950 over the same period this year.
This meant a typical one-bed let in Brent had cost 47% of the median income two years ago — but 70% now.
Typical one-bed lets in Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster both cost 65% of income this year, up four and five percentage points respectively from 2022.
Private rental prices in Brent experienced 30% inflation in October, 20 points higher than the London average, the ONS reported.
North London boroughs saw rents for one-bedroom lets take up more of the median income this year while those south of the Thames were more affordable, ranging from 37% in five outer boroughs to 50% in the inner borough of Southwark.
For single rooms in shared properties — a more affordable option for individual tenants — the available data showed that Wandsworth, Kingston, Merton and Greenwich saw the biggest rise in unaffordability. The proportion of rent spent on income on average in the four south London boroughs rose between nine and 11 percentage points over two years.
Jae Vail, spokesman for the London Renters Union which represents tenants across the capital and has branches in Brent, Haringey, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Lewisham and Newham, said that rent increases by landlords and lets remaining in a state of disrepair were the biggest problems facing renters.
He added: “The lack of secure home, of being unable to put down roots in your neighbourhood, of getting to know your neighbours, of being able to build those communities, is so hard.
“The way the housing system is set up means that particularly in places like London people are so transient and moving around all the time.
“Schools are being thrown into closure and various key workers are unable to afford to work in the city because they just can't afford rents.
Vail said households that faced unaffordable rent increases often registered for homeless support or income support — a phenomenon he noticed in Brent.
He said that many households were in temporary accommodation with some being placed far outside the borough, despite their children attending school and the parents working in Brent.
“They don’t know how long they’re going to be in temporary accommodation,” Vail said. “They spend hours and hours each day doing a school run because they’ve been placed on the outskirts of London.”
He added that frequently changing addresses meant medical appointment letters might not arrive, risking poorer health outcomes.
Muhammed Butt, the leader of Brent Council and cabinet member for housing, said the borough had the second-most homes built in London over the past decade but the unprecedented rate of homelessness was outpacing development and more landlords were selling up.
“Regrettably many will be offered temporary accommodation wherever we can find it,” he said. “We are limited in choice, cost and often competition from other councils also seeking to source emergency housing.
“We know the best option is simply to avoid households being evicted in the first place.
“We've called on the government to consider taking more steps to contain exorbitant rent rises.”
Landlords were also struggling in the current economic climate with a quarter of those surveyed selling at least one property in the past year, according to the National Residential Landlords Association.
Chris Norris, the association’s director of policy, said: “Our members do their utmost to ensure their properties provide the best possible accommodation for tenants across the private rented sector.
“Landlords want tenancies to be sustainable and do what they can to keep rents affordable but over recent years have been forced to raise prices as a result of inflationary pressures and the high-interest rate environment.”
Offering lets below the market rate was difficult, he said, pointing to the Mayor of London’s Living Rent scheme that showed only 14 available listings across all 32 boroughs.
The government-funded scheme, which subsidised new developments to be rented at a third of estimated local household incomes for eligible tenants, saw 541 new homes between last April and this September, less than 4% of the 13,646 affordable developments completed in London in that period, according to figures from the Greater London Authority.
“The overwhelming majority of private rented tenancies are as stable and long-term as tenants want them to be, with only 9% of tenancies typically ended by landlords,” Norris said.
While local authorities have statutory responsibilities to regulate the quality of private rentals, they have no power to cap market prices.
Rent controls were abolished in the Housing Act 1988 — which also introduced Section 21, a clause that gave Landlords the right to end tenancies without a reason, known as “no-fault” evictions.
The renters’ union was hopeful about the Labour government’s Renters Rights Bill which promised to overturn Section 21 but warned that no-fault evictions would continue if landlords could still raise rents too high.
Councils have a severe shortage of housing as about two million council homes have been sold since the Right to Buy scheme was introduced in 1985, which allowed tenants to purchase council homes at a discount.
London has more households on often years-long waiting lists for council and social housing than any other region in the country.
Residents who move between boroughs often struggle to join housing registers as councils often require applicants to have lived in the borough for a number of years.
The Brent Council website said that being placed in temporary accommodation would not secure a household a council home and almost one in ten residents were waiting for social housing in the borough.
The council introduced a scheme to offer financial support and assistance for those struggling with rent and homelessness to seek housing outside the borough or outside London.
A Kensington and Chelsea council spokesman said: “As London’s smallest, most densely packed borough, the cost of renting privately in Kensington and Chelsea is very high.
“We cannot control private rents but we use the powers we do have to help keep the private rental market safe for residents and fair for good landlords."
It was building the first social homes in a generation, including properties for key workers, he said, and the planning strategy now required at least 35% affordable homes for developments built on private land and at least 50% for those built on public land.
Westminster Council was approached for comment.
Image credit: Nico Hogg
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