Labour Tenants United: Put the right to housing above landlord profits

Decades of piecemeal reforms in an unreformable private rented sector has created a complex and daunting market. With the Covid-19 crisis comes a potential catalyst for tenants’ revolution, as the raw deal for renters is exposed as a scam. Tenants unions, charities and a variety of left think tanks have been quick to call for swift action such as a moratorium on evictions. But the Tories’ record shows that they will be more than willing to unravel this short-term safety net than craft it into a new normal for renters.

With government U-turns on the furlough scheme and free school meals, the Tories are again at risk of revealing their weakness on welfare issues and compassion for ordinary people. If the opposition frontbench decides to put the needs of renters first, Keir Starmer’s success at the despatch box can help us expose this record to ensure renters are protected from the fallout of the crisis. It also provides an opportunity for Labour to reimagine a bold, long-term policy package that puts renters’ right to shelter and housing above landlords wanting to own property and earn profit.

That is why, with the support of hundreds of activists and in solidarity with tenants’ unions, we founded Labour Tenants United – a campaign to ensure that Labour is as representative of tenants as possible, and to have policy proposals that reflect that representation. In this modern age of rentier capitalism, in a market that reflects the domination of those privileged enough to own property at the expense and welfare of everyone else, we should be acting as the political wing of tenants’ unions in the same spirit in which we organise as the political wing of trade unions.

Rental prices have increased by over 7% since January 2015 according to the Office for National Statistics. Combined with stagnation in wages and coupled with a pandemic and recession, you can see why you would expect us to see further hardship for renters across the country. A recent poll by Opinium found that one in five of those who had been financially affected by the Covid lockdown had been forced to choose between food and bills or paying rent. One in four said that they had already had to voluntarily leave their home, move in with friends or parents, or request an earlier end to their tenancy due to the crisis.

If the everyday maliciousness of unscrupulous transaction fees and lack of concern for maintenance are also factored in, we believe that it is time to propose a brighter vision for a housing sector. A vision that concentrates on the needs of its occupants as its core value, instead of uniquely protecting landlords’ pockets. As such, we’ve brought together policy proposals that reflect this need for action in the context of coronavirus, as well as presenting a bold, long-term package of support to bail out the rented sector. Among other ideas, our proposals include policies to:

• immediately extend the moratorium on possession claims and evictions;
• suspend the obligation to pay rent to landlords by tenants for the duration of the coronavirus crisis;
• ban all evictions under Section 21 permanently;
• and introduce controls so that landlords cannot keep tenants paying for the cost of the pandemic for years down the line.

These are policies that can focus on supporting the most vulnerable in our society through reflecting the duties that landlords owe in providing safe and affordable homes, with the bonus that it could attract many of the voters we lost in 2019. As such, this ought to be a relatively basic but essential approach for the Labour Party to support and develop as we continue to expose the Tories’ lack of action for renters. You can see and support the full Labour Tenants United policy proposals, and Labour members can vote and comment on them, on the national policy forum website. For updates on the campaign, follow us on Twitter and sign up to our mailing list here.