News / Housing
Renters asked for views on Bristol’s housing crisis
Renters are being asked for their views on Bristol’s housing crisis as part of an upcoming plan to improve living conditions.
Bristol City Council wants to know whether renters find the housing market expensive, precarious or competitive, before drawing up plans to drive up standards.
More than one in four people in Bristol rent their home privately from a landlord, rather than from a housing association or living in a council home.
Many more people rent privately in the city than the national average of 20 per cent.
And rents have skyrocketed in recent decades, outpacing the growth of wages, as renters here now pay on average 45 per cent of their income to landlords.
A public consultation on Bristol’s private rented sector is running until midnight on April 26.
Respondents are asked if they think the sector is expensive, competitive, precarious, responsive and well-maintained, among a range of other issues such as gentrification.
Another question is what the biggest issues facing tenants are, such as affordability of rents, poor lack of management from a landlord, security of tenancy, property conditions and evictions.
Some of these problems are interlinked, such as tenants avoiding requests to fix issues, in fear of reprisal from landlords with potential rent hikes or evictions.
The survey says: “Over a quarter of people in Bristol rent their home from a private landlord. This means over 120,000 people live in the private rented sector.
“The new Renters’ Rights Act will bring big changes across the country. These changes will affect the city, renters and landlords.
“We have decided to create a Private Rented Sector Strategy which will make it clear how we will deal with these challenges and opportunities.
“We want to hear from as many people affected by private renting as possible. We want you to tell us your experience of the private rented sector, and what you think should happen in the future.”
The council is also talking to volunteer and community groups, landlord associations and letting agents.
The new renting strategy will include plans to make renting fairer, supporting renters and landlords, and new things the council must do by law, like licensing and regulation.
The survey also asks what priorities the council should have in the upcoming strategy.
This could be actions like improving property standards, supporting tenants to know their rights, working with landlords to make properties more accessible, working with owners of homes that have been empty for a long time to bring them back into use, and asking the government for more powers.
To take part in the survey, visit www.bristol.gov.uk/ask/find-consultation-engagement/consultation-engagement?id=279
Main photo: Martin Booth
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