Holding the Keys to Your Future

Roscoe Jenkin, S10, asks if private landlords are helping or hindering society.

Have you ever looked for a place to rent in London? Many have, and found it is a painful process. Often one might believe that they’ve found a place that is affordable, only to later realise it has major problems, and the landlord, who owns ten other flats, does not care about their problems. Labour may pledge to build millions of homes, but in the short term, something must be done to take the pressure off renters.

In 2024, landlords increased rent by an average 8.4% (with 9% being the legal maximum), despite only a 3.6% wage increase. There are two ways to look at private landlords: from a moral perspective, if people should profit off simply owning land; from a practical perspective, if private citizens should be able to inflate prices simply due to a high demand.

Let’s start with some context: the majority of landlords in the UK own more than two properties, with 17% owning five or more. In cities, there is an incredibly high demand for housing, allowing landlords to raise rent anywhere below the legal maximum of 9%. This has created a system with landlords being able to charge extortionate prices for low quality housing. This is one example of the practical problems with private landlords.

However, there is also a moral question to be asked; should private landlords be able to make money from housing? It is an easy to say “landlords (like investment bankers) contribute nothing to society, and so they shouldn’t exist,” but we must accept having individual people manage two to five properties poses some benefits compared to management by government. Some would say landlords are a symptom of larger issues of capitalism, but working within the framework of capitalism that we live in, are they moral? I don’t think so, as there is a clear link between private landlords, with no disincentive to increase prices and homelessness. In the current system with landlords not investing money in improving their housing, whilst simultaneously increasing prices, it seems clear that the practise of private landlords is immoral.

What is the solution to this problem? Few people would propose banning private landlords, as this would require the government to purchase, manage and maintain previously owned properties. Considering public services are already on their knees, and funding for these projects does not exist. This combined with the governments notoriously bad management of things (e.g. the railway) means that it simply isn’t practical to put all landlords’ property under state control.

A less extreme solution would be increasing tenant protection. Legislation such as the Renters Rights Bill is working to improve renters’ rights. This bill banned no fault evictions, (where a landlord could evict a tenant for no reason). It also banned blanket bans for people with kids or on benefits. However, other restrictions could be put in place, such as lowering the allowed increase of rent from 9%, and introducing greater protections for tenants, such as increasing notice when raising prices. The law says landlords have a “reasonable time” to repair things in properties, but this seems ridiculously unspecific. More specific restrictions stating how much time they must fix certain kinds of issues seems more appropriate.

So, what would these fixes bring? More concrete laws to protect tenants and require a certain amount of investment to actively improve the quality of properties would result in both lower prices and higher quality housing, which everyone can agree is a positive change. So, should private landlords be banned? No, but it is clear something must be done to resolve this exploitative business.