 With his latest u-turn, Rishi Sunak has proved he doesn't care about renters The more things change, the more they stay the same. Tory Prime Ministers certainly have changed – we've had five in the past seven years. But the administration's total and utter disregard for the rights of almost 5 million people in England alone living in private rented accommodation has never wavered. And just a week after Rishi Sunak's catastrophic climate policy rollback, including scrapping plans to force landlords to improve energy efficiency standards, his Government's neglect of renters has never been clearer. This chaos is almost understandable, when you learn that there have been as many as 15 different Housing Ministers since 2010. That's a sign of just how shambolic the past 13 years of Tory rule have been, but it is renters who are paying the price. I see this first hand, in the heart-wrenching cases that arrive in my inbox on a regular basis. One constituent is a teacher forced into a precarious living situation after their landlord sold the flat, now struggling to find a 1-bedroom studio flat in Brighton for less than £1,200 a month – and who is being frequently turned down by prospective landlords merely for owning a pet. Another has been subject to domestic violence, worried they are unable to afford a property within the safe zone from which the perpetrator is excluded. The list of problems facing renters is long, not least the fact that British homes are among the worst insulated in Europe – leaving people cold, damp and paying even higher energy bills as a result. The good news is that proposals were put forward to help tackle this specific issue – requiring new tenancies to reach Energy Efficiency C rating from 2025, and all tenancies by 2028. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This would have meant tenants could reap the doubl){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
With his latest u-turn, Rishi Sunak has proved he doesn’t care about renters
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Tory Prime Ministers certainly have changed – we’ve had five in the past seven years.
But the administration’s total and utter disregard for the rights of almost 5 million people in England alone living in private rented accommodation has never wavered.
And just a week after Rishi Sunak’s catastrophic climate policy rollback, including scrapping plans to force landlords to improve energy efficiency standards, his Government’s neglect of renters has never been clearer.