• Contact
  • About
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
North East Bylines
  • Home
  • News
  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Region
  • Opinion
AUDIO
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Region
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
North East Bylines
Home Business

“Bedsit Land”: the fall and rise of the private rented sector in the north

One result of this legal change was that some landlords refused to invest in their properties as a way of maintaining high profits.

Stephen LambertbyStephen Lambert
25-11-2020 08:55 - Updated On 05-04-2022 18:58
in Business, Co. Durham, Economy, North East, Northumberland, Politics, Region, Teesside, Tyneside, UK, UK News, Wearside
Reading Time: 4 mins
A A
Photo by Ethan Wilkinson, via unsplash

Photo by Ethan Wilkinson, via unsplash

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

In the UK today 4.5m households are renting in the private sector. An increasing number are young adults and families with children. 18% of homes are privately rented. In Newcastle, with over 22,000 private renters, it’s more than double what it was in the 1980s.

Tenant rents are high. Across England private landlords charge an average monthly rent of £650. London had the highest median monthly rent, at £1,453. In the North East it’s £475 to £550 for a two-bedroomed ‘Tyneside flat’. According to the campaign group Generation Rent, three out of 10 of privately rented homes are classed as ‘non-decent’, a far worse figure than for owner- occupied homes and social housing. Little wonder that affordable housing has topped the policy agenda.

But private renting isn’t a new phenomenon. At the turn of the 20th century the dominant housing tenure was made up of private landlords renting for profit. Tenants had few rights. Conditions were appalling. Overcrowding was rife. On Tyneside housing conditions were in, in many respects, the worst in the country and not that different from 1850.

Lack of town planning and inadequate housing laws gave the opportunity for unscrupulous landlords to throw up low quality, insanitary and damp homes which were rented out to poorer groups in society. During World War One the situation was so dire for working people and their families that a number of rent strikes took place, led by women in Glasgow. The government passed the 1915 Rent Act which laid down rent controls on private landlords. Nine years later tenants got modest security from eviction.

One result of this legal change was that some landlords refused to invest in their properties as a way of maintaining high profits. Rents were cheaper in 1919-1938, but the condition of homes declined with overcrowding a big problem across the northern industrial heartlands.

Despite the growth of council housing and owner-occupation, the post-war Conservative government recognised the demise of the private rented sector and brought in the Rent Act 1957 which removed rent controls which the Attlee administration re-introduced in 1946. Yet as Professor Brian Lund argues, this didn’t reinvigorate the private rented sector as there were no tax breaks or subsidies. Several landlords sold up when the properties became vacant.

But the change in law unleashed ‘Rachmanism’ – a new breed of aggressive landlord like Peter Rachman who manipulated housing regulations in such a way to increase rents massively and winkle out decent tenants. By 1965 the Labour Government increased security of tenants in unfurnished dwellings and introduced ‘fair rents’. By 1974, security was extended to furnished accommodation.

Conservative attempts to support private landlords meant that in the 1980s, newer, looser forms of tenancy could be agreed between landlord and tenants, which weakened tenant rights. However, by 1988, private rented homes had become almost irrelevant to the housing needs of the majority of the population, as it had been replaced by council, housing association and owner-occupancy. By 1990 64% of households owned their homes and a quarter were in social housing. Conservative administrations were ideologically committed to reducing the role of local authorities as housing providers and were strongly in favour of the free market.

Margaret Thatcher as PM saw the reintroduction of private rented housing as an alternative to council homes. In 1988 a new Housing Act was passed bringing in a raft of measures to undermine council provided housing and to build up alternatives. One feature of this was the repeal of rent controls, so that private landlords could, once again be enticed back into providing properties to let.

In the second decade of the 21st century the private rented market operates to meet two very different types of housing need. At one end of the spectrum, the properties are let out to well-off professionals, who seek high-quality, flexible homes in prestige neighbourhoods such as Ponteland’s Darras Hall estate or Newcastle’s upmarket Quayside. At the other end are those who are either too poor, or are on average £19k salaries, to get a mortgage.

The number of people privately renting across England rose by a staggering 121% between 1996 to 2018. In 2019, almost half (46%) of 16 to 34-year olds were privately renting, up from 21% in 1997. Too much of it is sub-standard with thousands of renters still living in homes unfit for human habitation. With coronavirus raging across the region many have been laid off, furloughed or put on reduced hours and are in rent arrears. Universal Credit payments or housing benefit too often don’t cover the full extent of market rents.

What most young people want today is an affordable, secure, warm, dry and decent home either to rent or to buy. The challenge for central government is to provide this while re-introducing rent caps in the British rental market which works well in most European cities like Berlin, Vienna and Paris. With a policy commitment from all the main political parties to build more social homes, local councils across the region must re-establish themselves as the ‘private tenants champion’.

Previous Post

What say you, Home Secretary?

Next Post

I miss panto

Stephen Lambert

Stephen Lambert

Born and brought up in Newcastle , Stephen runs Education4Democracy - a social enterprise company having been a college lecturer in two North East colleges in the last 30 years. Stephen is a Newcastle City Councillor. In 1987 and 1992 he contested the Berwick-Upon-Tweed and Roxburgh constituencies (Labour) at both general elections. Stephen is an established citizen journalist and has published widely in The Journal, Chronicle, Sunday Sun, Northern Echo, Newsquest, Northumberland Gazette, LGA First and Post-16 Educator on a range of public policy related issues. He has also contributed to social media sites such as Labour List, FE News and North East Bylines.

Related Posts

bluebells
Community

1,750 native bulbs and flowers to bring colour and to enhance wellbeing in Kenton

byNorth East Bylines
December 2, 2023
Palestinians and Israelis book by Michael Scott-Baumann
Books

Book review: Palestinians and Israelis

byGiuseppe Bignardi
December 1, 2023
Newcastle Civic Centre
Housing

City Council to take over Your Homes Newcastle

byStephen Lambert
December 1, 2023
Thousands of dead and dying crustaceans were found along Teesside’s coastlines last year. FlorianKunde/Shutterstock
Environment

Crustacean die-off report: more questions than answers

byNorth East Bylines
November 30, 2023 - Updated On December 1, 2023
COP28 Trees
Environment

What can we expect from COP28?

byNeil Taylor
November 30, 2023
Next Post
Promo photo used with permission

I miss panto

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CROWDFUNDER

Subscribe to our newsletters
CHOOSE YOUR NEWS
Follow us on social media
CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORMS
Download our app
ALL OF BYLINES IN ONE PLACE
Subscribe to our gazette
CONTRIBUTE TO OUR SUSTAINABILITY
Make a monthly or one-off donation
DONATE NOW
Help us with our hosting costs
SIGN UP TO SITEGROUND
We are always looking for citizen journalists
WRITE FOR US
Volunteer as an editor, in a technical role, or on social media
VOLUNTEER FOR US
Something else?
GET IN TOUCH
Previous slide
Next slide

LATEST

bluebells

1,750 native bulbs and flowers to bring colour and to enhance wellbeing in Kenton

December 2, 2023
Palestinians and Israelis book by Michael Scott-Baumann

Book review: Palestinians and Israelis

December 1, 2023

December 1, 2023
Newcastle Civic Centre

City Council to take over Your Homes Newcastle

December 1, 2023
Kim McGuinness

Government urged to fund £20mn initial work for new railway and at least seven new stations

December 1, 2023
Thousands of dead and dying crustaceans were found along Teesside’s coastlines last year. FlorianKunde/Shutterstock

Crustacean die-off report: more questions than answers

November 30, 2023 - Updated On December 1, 2023

MOST READ

Nestle Fawdon

New buyer for Fawdon Nestlé chocolate site

November 28, 2023
Photo by Fred Duval/Shutterstock.com (YW)

Cleverly and Stockton

November 27, 2023
Bollard in Geelong

What news from Geelong? The show goes on with Britishvolt

November 24, 2023 - Updated On November 27, 2023
Polling station

Proportional Representation vs First Past the Post

November 6, 2022 - Updated On May 23, 2023

BROWSE BY TAGS

Audio Beach Brexit Business castle leazes climate activism Co. Durham comedy cost of living crisis Culture defra democracy ducklings Economy Education Environment fire and rescue firefighter Food & Drink food poverty hardwick festival Health Health & Care Home Affairs just stop oil Lifestyle Local Lockdown Northumberland Peace peoples theatre Performance Politics pride month refugee rescue Science Teesside the good life TV & Radio Tynemouth Tyneside Ukraine volunteer Wearside

We are a not-for-profit citizen journalism publication. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in the North East and beyond.

North East Bylines is a trading brand of Bylines Network Limited, which is a partner organisation to Byline Times.

Learn more about us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Authors
  • Complaints
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Letters
  • Privacy
  • Network Map
  • Network RSS Feeds
  • Submission Guidelines

© 2023 North East Bylines. Powerful Citizen Journalism

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Environment
    • UK News
    • Transport
    • World News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • Culture
    • Music
    • Poetry
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Technology
    • Trade
  • Donate
  • Newsletter sign up
  • Boriiis Cartoons
  • Authors
  • Audio
CROWDFUNDER

© 2023 North East Bylines. Powerful Citizen Journalism

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In