Shedgate: ‘Have they no shame?’

My damp and mould-ridden rented house in Easton has subsidence so bad that overnight the bed rolls from one end of the room to the other. Now, that’s probably not as bad as it sounds as said room is so small that I can only pass between the foot of the bed and the wall (actually the boiler cupboard) by shimmying along it sideways. At least the hassle of having to move the bed to access the boiler helps keep the heating bills down.

I wish I could say that when I first saw that some chancer was charging £30,000 for a flimsy hovel gaffa-taped onto the back of a big house that I was shocked, or at least surprised. Actually my first thought was ‘oh look, London doesn’t have the market cornered in beds in sheds’. No, Bristol, best city in the country to live in, is right up there with the capital.

Outrageous as that is, though, and putting aside the letting agent jargon (bijou?), rental price of £395 and absence of planning permission or sense of shame, the (now-withdrawn) smallest property on the market is merely indicative of a much wider problem.

Both as tenant and ACORN organiser I see first hand the cost of rocketing private sector rents against a backdrop of stagnant wages and employment insecurity. Following the outrage at CJ Hole’s ‘get more rent’ letter in the spring, tenants have forwarded ACORN similar circulars from other agents. One recently proclaimed this the best time ever to become a landlord with rents rising locally by 13.6 per cent over the past year. The two-up, two-down house next to mine has recently been let out for more than £1,600 and other landlords will follow suit. Has there been a worse time to be a tenant?

14,000 people are on Bristol’s waiting list for affordable homes. The council is planning to build 1,000 new houses. Over the next 15 years. The response to the problem would be laughable if there wasn’t so much at stake. With house prices making 99 per cent of the country unaffordable to someone on my wage, there is nowhere for people to go other than into the private rental sector where the demand is so great that tenants compete for every property and take the first thing available.

Renting has become a race to the bottom. Houses where children fall through rotten floorboards, rats run across bedroom floors and where plaster and masonry fall into living rooms and bedrooms nevertheless supply unscrupulous landlords with hundreds of pounds a month. Such conditions are always unacceptable. But insult is added to injury when you pay through the nose for the privilege. With local homelessness increasing fourfold over the last year and average rents increasing by £100 over the same period something has to give. The current situation is intolerable.

Tenants need to get organised and ACORN is leading the way in building a tenant-led response to the housing crisis. In little over a year we have mobilised thousands of people in support of tenant rights and our direct action approach has given our members the power and support they need to stand up for themselves. Community self help and solidarity are the watchwords of the campaign that has won tens of thousands of pounds for tenants in reduced rents and repairs and prevented illegal and revenge evictions.

Our Ethical Lettings Charter is supported by Bristol City Council and will soon be rolled out across the city as we invite landlords and letting agents to join with us and play their part in the development of a progressive rental market in Bristol. We are confident that many will respond positively; recognising the benefits both to their businesses and the wider community brought by secure tenancies, affordable rents and dignified living conditions. That said, what we hope will be a small minority should make no mistake – ACORN is here to stay and we will assert our rights. The stakes are just too high for us to remain silent any longer. Two weeks ago the Scottish Government brought in rent controls. If tenants can be protected there where rents are significantly cheaper then the need for similar measures here is clear.

The importance of a united and organised tenants’ movement in achieving fair rents cannot be understated. ACORN is organising tenants to demand more than the inadequate legal protections and sowing the seeds for a community response to unfettered rent rises and the exploitation and homelessness that accompany them.

Nick Ballard is an organiser for tenant rights group ACORN.