Rents up 35% in six years – Manchester tenants say enough is enough

With rents up 35% since 2020 and no controls in sight, Greater Manchester Law Centre is helping tenants fight increases at tribunal and backing this Friday’s protest for the real fix.

Over the last few months, the Greater Manchester Law Centre (GMLC) has been working with Greater Manchester Tenants Union (GMTU) on the Resist Rent Rises campaign. This is a coalition of tenants’ unions and community organisations that helps private tenants challenge rent increases and campaigns for rent controls.

We have run training sessions for tenants facing rent increases. We helped shape the Resist Rent Rises online tool, which helps users work out whether to challenge their rent rise at a rent tribunal. We have also joined events and demonstrations to build the campaign.

Rents keep climbing to unaffordable levels across England and Wales, driving homelessness and evictions. Tenants cannot afford to accept the status quo of ‘market rates’ setting the rent.

England and Wales are among the few places in Europe with no form of rent control or stabilisation in the private rented sector. Rents have risen by 35% since 2020. That takes money straight out of tenants’ pockets and pushes up government spending on housing benefit. In September the BBC predicted that rents would keep rising after a short lull.

This Friday, 23 October, GMTU is holding a protest for rent controls at St Peter’s Square, Manchester, at 6pm under the banner “Enough is enough: rent controls now!”

GMLC is proud to support the protest. We hope as many people as possible join it to call on policymakers to stop resisting common-sense solutions to the cost-of-living crisis.

Rent tribunals aren’t a perfect system, but they are the tools we have. What is really needed is rent controls. Tenants’ unions across the country pushed for them to halt spiralling rents, but the final Renters’ Rights Act did not include them.

Access to an affordable rent should not depend on navigating a tribunal system. The government has offered no other way to fight unaffordable rents. So, tenants and campaigners should use their rights to challenge rent rises at tribunal, while calling for rent controls and more social housing so that affordable housing becomes a reality for everyone.

Enough is enough: rent controls now! Friday 23 October, St Peter’s Square, Manchester, 6pm.