Sign on the dotted line? A new rental contract: Final report
Article
Yet the rules and regulations which underpin the private rented sector have not kept pace with this growth. This means that tenants face unaffordability, poor conditions, a lack of tenure security and limited control over the place they call home. Meanwhile, cuts to benefits and welfare reform, a slow court system and a lack of strategic policy mean that the structural foundations which are essential for a thriving sector are being eroded.
In this report we set out a programme of radical but necessary reform to the private rented sector which would address these challenges. In doing so, we have drawn on in-depth conversations with tenants and landlords across England. Through these we have sought to understand the lived experience of those in private renting and how they want it to change, testing with them ideas for reform.
Polling commissioned by IPPR through Sky Data as part of our research reveals significant public support for reform of the sector. As renters, and those concerned about the sector and its impacts, grow as a political force it is clear that the programme of reform we present here would not just ensure that the sector was more just: it would be hugely popular with tenants and the wider public, too. The polling is available here.
Related items
Planes, trains and automobiles: How green transport can drive manufacturing growth in the UK
Transport is essential to our lives. Unfortunately, it is currently also the largest source of UK domestic carbon emissions.Regional economies: The role of industrial strategy as a pathway to greener growth
Regions like the North should have a key role to play in the development of a green industrial strategy.Achieving the 2030 child poverty target: The distance left to travel
On 27 March, the Scottish government will announce whether Scotland’s 2023 child poverty target – no more than 18 per cent of children in poverty – was achieved.