Letter: Rights of tenants in the private sector

Sir: As an agency dealing with more than 2,000 private tenants each year, we feel compelled to comment on the Government's plans to encourage institutional investment in the private rented sector. These plans follow on from the 1988 Housing Act, which was designed to encourage people to let property by deregulating rents and reducing tenants' security of tenure - for example, by introducing Assured Shorthold tenancies, by which the landlord has an automatic right to repossess after as little as six months.

One might think that short-term tenancies at high rents would be mostly occupied by well-paid people who value the flexibility such accommodation offers, but this is rarely the case. Eighty-eight per cent of Assured Shorthold tenants who come to us rely on housing benefit. Nationally, 38 per cent of such tenants are single parents.

Large institutional investors have not been attracted to private renting, and the sector is dominated by individual landlords and small companies, often with little knowledge of housing law, for whom profit, or the lack of it, is more important than the rights of the tenant.

The reduced security that now affects many tenants means that they cannot exercise their legal rights without fear of losing their homes. This explains why, despite higher rents and easier legal recovery by landlords, a large proportion of tenants still complain of disrepair, harassment and illegal eviction. If it were the case in any other business that the supplier completely ignored the rights of the consumer, they would face stiff penalties - why should this not be the case with such a basic human need as housing?

If the Government truly intends to improve the image of private renting, it should look again at subsidising the private rented sector, and link any financial gain for landlords with a proper system of redress for tenants whose rights have been breached.

Yours faithfully,

COLIN WILSON

Housing Aid Centre

Manchester City Council

Manchester