A-Infos (en) UK, ACG: Landlords profit, tenants suffer (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

"London Renters Union members are reporting huge rent rises of as much 30% or 
even 50%. Landlords and estate agents are using the cost of living crisis as an 
excuse to squeeze tenants and boost profits. They get richer while the rest of us 
suffer" (https://londonrentersunion.org/rent-rises/).  ---- Housing costs already 
make up a very high percentage of people's spending. It is recommended that 
people spend no more than 30% of their take-home pay on rent but in London, and 
most other cities, this is impossible. In London people pay almost 50% of their 
income on rent and it is worse the lower paid you are. The cost of a new rental 
agreement rose by 12% this past year. Meanwhile, earnings have increased by only 
6%.  ---- There is a shortage of privately rented accommodation. This is due to 
the increase in demand from those unable to buy their own home and lack of public 
housing.

However, it is also due to the fact that in tourist hotspots such as London, 
landlords are renting to tourists at vastly inflated prices. Renters are forced 
to share flats, living in cramped and often poorly maintained condition.

Meanwhile, many landlords make huge profits.  "The UK's largest listed 
residential landlord Grainger reported a huge boom in profit before tax of 96 per 
cent off the back of soaring demand" 
https://www.cityam.com/private-landlord-titan-graingers-profits-surge-by-96-per-cent-due-to-strong-rental-demand/). 


In response, hundreds of renters across the UK went out on the streets to call 
for a rent freeze. In Stratford, East London, renters set up tents, mattresses 
and food stalls outside the office of Foxtons estate agents.

Foxtons signalled a 25% rise in profits in the third quarter of 2022, previously 
awarding massive bonuses to its senior management whilst making money from the 
government's furlough scheme during the Covid lockdown. London Renters Union 
reported an average rent increase of £3,378 (20.5%) per year, with some renters 
facing rises of 50%.

This situation is completely unacceptable. It doesn't make sense that landlords 
can put up rents just because people are desperate to find a place to live. But 
this is how the capitalist market works- an increase in demand leads to higher 
prices. Instead of housing being a right, it is a source of profit for those with 
enough money to buy up properties- the big corporations and well as buy-to-let 
landlords.

In an anarchist communist society, housing would be free to all- provided and 
maintained by all of us working together. It would be distributed according to 
need, so that people with larger households would get bigger places and we would 
not see rich families occupying massive houses. The system of distribution would 
be fair and involve everyone in making decisions- not the market, not the 
landlord, not the State.

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2023/01/12/landlords-profit-tenants-suffer/
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