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1 in 15 parents in the North
blame short rental tenancies for making their children unsettled
1 in 15 parents in the North say
short term rentals, which result in frequent and stressful house moves, have
stopped their children feeling settled. The new research published by Shelter
reveals the worrying impact the Country's broken rental market is having on
families.
In the past decade, the number of renting families has more than doubled but the
law has failed to keep up. Renters only have a secure home for 6 months after
which their landlord can ask them to leave with just 2 months' notice and
without a reason. This will often be through no fault of their own, like if the
rent is hiked up to an unaffordable amount, or if the landlord wants to sell.
Unsurprisingly, this instability means parents are concerned about the impact of
constantly moving house on their children, with 39% worrying they will have to
change schools as a result of a future move. Though parents try to prevent this
happening, sometimes the distance is too far to commute.
Finding a new place to rent can be time consuming, stressful and expensive. It
is as much an emotional upheaval as a physical 1. In fact, 40% of parents
surveyed said searching for a new rented home had a negative impact on their
personal life and 7% said a short term rental negatively affected relationships
with friends or family members.
The loss of private rented homes remains the single biggest cause of
homelessness in England, a symptom of an unstable and expensive rental market.
That is why Shelter is calling on the government to introduce 5 year
tenancies to give renting families more stability.
Graeme Brown, Shelter's interim chief executive, said:- "Soaring house
prices mean more families are renting than ever before. But the dire state of
our rental market means they can only secure a home for 6 months; the
equivalent to just 2 school terms.
Every day at Shelter we speak to parents who are forced to move, faced with yet
another unsettling house move. And at the sharp end, a worrying number of
renting families are becoming homeless because they can't scrape together the
money needed for a deposit on a new place. No child deserves this upheaval.
We welcome the government's shift towards helping struggling renting families
but their plans will still leave the majority without the secure home they want
and need. Now is the time to fix this by introducing 5-year tenancies across the
board, allowing families to plan and save for the future and to feel secure and
settled in their homes."
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