A tenants' advocacy group is calling for an end "no fault" evictions by landlords, and to limit annual rent rises to no more than the percentage change in the national minimum wage.
The People's Review of Renting is being launched on Wednesday morning by Renters United based on over 600 renters' stories crowd-sourced by social advocacy platform Action Station.
It recommends a raft of law changes to regulate landlords and strengthen tenant rights, including licensing all landlords and introducing compulsory rental Warrants of Fitness.
These are good suggestions. They would ensure that houses are fit to live in and that renters can have the security to turn them into homes, while preventing the currently pervasive abuses of power by landlords. Naturally, the Property Investors Federation AKA the landlords union is not happy, saying that it will cause many landlords to quit the business. Good. Because we don't want exploitative, abusive arseholes renting properties unfit for a dog to live in, then evicting people if they complain, and sooner those scumbags exit the market, the better. And as most landlords are really just housing speculators, it also means less heat in the housing market (and if they sell the houses they're hoarding, even better, because it'll help crash the price). All in all, I don't see a downside to any of this.
You can read the People's Review here.
(Title from the Dead Kennedys)