"London Renters Union members are reporting huge rent rises of as much 30% or
even 50%. Landlords and estate agents are using the cost of living crisis as anexcuse to squeeze tenants and boost profits. They get richer while the rest of ussuffer" (https://londonrentersunion.org/rent-rises/). ---- Housing costs alreadymake up a very high percentage of people's spending. It is recommended thatpeople spend no more than 30% of their take-home pay on rent but in London, andmost other cities, this is impossible. In London people pay almost 50% of theirincome on rent and it is worse the lower paid you are. The cost of a new rentalagreement rose by 12% this past year. Meanwhile, earnings have increased by only6%. ---- There is a shortage of privately rented accommodation. This is due tothe increase in demand from those unable to buy their own home and lack of publichousing.However, it is also due to the fact that in tourist hotspots such as London,landlords are renting to tourists at vastly inflated prices. Renters are forcedto share flats, living in cramped and often poorly maintained condition.Meanwhile, many landlords make huge profits. "The UK's largest listedresidential landlord Grainger reported a huge boom in profit before tax of 96 percent off the back of soaring demand"https://www.cityam.com/private-landlord-titan-graingers-profits-surge-by-96-per-cent-due-to-strong-rental-demand/).In response, hundreds of renters across the UK went out on the streets to callfor a rent freeze. In Stratford, East London, renters set up tents, mattressesand food stalls outside the office of Foxtons estate agents.Foxtons signalled a 25% rise in profits in the third quarter of 2022, previouslyawarding massive bonuses to its senior management whilst making money from thegovernment's furlough scheme during the Covid lockdown. London Renters Unionreported an average rent increase of £3,378 (20.5%) per year, with some rentersfacing rises of 50%.This situation is completely unacceptable. It doesn't make sense that landlordscan put up rents just because people are desperate to find a place to live. Butthis is how the capitalist market works- an increase in demand leads to higherprices. Instead of housing being a right, it is a source of profit for those withenough money to buy up properties- the big corporations and well as buy-to-letlandlords.In an anarchist communist society, housing would be free to all- provided andmaintained by all of us working together. It would be distributed according toneed, so that people with larger households would get bigger places and we wouldnot see rich families occupying massive houses. The system of distribution wouldbe fair and involve everyone in making decisions- not the market, not thelandlord, not the State.https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2023/01/12/landlords-profit-tenants-suffer/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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