The private rented sector is no longer fit for the people it now serves. Almost half of those renting are over 35, and the proportion of privately rented homes has rocketed by 69 per cent. As MPs debate standards in the sector this afternoon, we’ll have to recognise that it isn’t just Neil and the Young Ones, but families who typify this part of the market, and it needs to change to recognise that.
The default tenancy is the Assured Shorthold Tenancy, which allows landlords and tenants to enter into short-term agreements with regular rent reviews and the ability for either party to break after six months with one month’s written notice. When they were introduced by the Housing Act in 1988, they were a huge step forward from previously restrictive forms of tenancy. After the horror of rent capping, the new agreements allowed landlords to manage their properties properly, and gave tenants mobility too.
Assured shorthold tenancies were once the hallmark of a mobile property market where young people moved from their rented property to their first home.
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