Sian Berry AM is launching a survey to find out more about the problems faced by London’s 2.3 million private renters.
The short survey asks about problems with costs, contracts and letting agents, maintenance and repairs and how renters think a union of tenants working together could help improve their rights and situation.
Sian says: “As a private renter, like 2.3 million other Londoners, I know that the insecurity, cost and lack of control over your living arrangements can take its toll. My flat’s toilet is never properly fixed by my landlord and has just broken again. I’ve shelled out more than half my pay in rent and lived in six different houses and flats since I moved to London.”
Sian sits on the Assembly’s Housing Committee and will chair it from next year, so the survey aims to collect evidence, views and stories on the crisis in London’s private renting market. It also asks how a union of renters working together could help individuals fight their corner and improve rights for tenants across the city.
Read more about the survey and take part here
Earlier this year, Sian asked the Mayor to consider the lower wages paid to women and the higher living costs paid by families when calculating his new ‘living rent’.
She also exposed how the cost of rent exceeds 50% of the take-home pay of the average police constable, an issue helping to force more than half of officers to live outside London altogether.