Renters Manifesto Trade Union Motion

Motion to support the Renters Manifesto

The average cost of private rent is officially rising at the fastest rate since government records began.
According to analysis by Rightmove asking rents for new private tenants has hit a record average £1,278 per calendar month outside London, whilst in London it has reached a record £2,627 per month.
Private tenants can be evicted by their landlord without reason using Section 21.
Theresa May pledged to ban Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions in April 2019. As of October 2023, the Renters Reform Bill has not passed beyond a first reading in Parliament, and there are no plans for a second reading.
Housing charity Shelter have calculated that more than 188k families with children have been subject to a ‘no fault’ eviction notice since April 2019.
According to the English Housing Survey (2020) Approximately 1 in 4 private rented homes are categorised as ‘non decent’, with many of these posing a significant threat to human health.
According to the New Economics Foundation, over 2 million council homes have been sold or demolished since 1980, with only 4% of these replaced.
The Renters Manifesto has been written by the biggest tenant organisations and advocacy groups in England and Wales and contains policy proposals that seek to address all aspects of the housing crisis.

Housing is a fundamental right; everyone deserves access to a safe, secure and affordable home.
As a rich nation, the UK has enough resources to address the current housing crisis.
Urgent and comprehensive action needs to be taken by the national government to resolve the three-pronged crisis of affordability, security and quality in the UK housing system.
If adopted by the next UK Government, the policy proposals contained in the Renters’ Manifesto provide a blueprint for addressing the root causes of the housing crisis.