‘Nine in 10 renters cannot afford minimum deposit to buy home,’ campaigners claim

Demands for change: Campaign group Digs says most renters now face ‘grim reality’ of renting for the rest of their lives. Photograph: Nico Hogg

With Hackney rents averaging at £1,625 per month, equating to roughly 67 per cent of average household take-home pay in the borough, local renters may have trouble scraping together the £8,838 needed for a five per cent deposit on the average home.

For many, uncertainty over whether it will ever be realistically possible to buy property fuels the desire for better renters’ rights.

Nine in 10 people renting property in Britain are unable to afford the five per cent deposit needed to buy the average first home, a study by charity Equality Trust has shown.

Speaking to the Hackney Citizen, Heather Kennedy of Hackney private renters’ campaign group Digs, said: “Most renters are confronting the grim reality that we’ll be renting for the rest of our lives.

“This means a lifetime of crippling rents that gobble up our incomes and savings, lousy conditions, exploitative landlords and the constant threat of eviction hanging over our heads.

“We can’t go on like this, and yet our politicians stand by and do nothing, perhaps because so many of them are landlords.

“The six million renters in the UK have only one option: we have to get organised in our communities and demand radical change.”

The Conservative government’s Help to Buy scheme, which aims to aid first-time buyers, has been subject to a great deal of scrutiny.

The Labour Party has said the housing crisis would be better dealt with through building more homes and putting a cap on rent rises.

Green Party London Assembly member Sian Berry last month launched a Big Renter’s Survey aiming at collecting evidence, views and stories concerning the capital’s private rental market.

Hackney Council has petitioned new housing minister Gavin Barwell, who is MP for Croydon Central, calling for reform of legislation to ensure protection for private renters.

Hackney Council has been approached for comment but is yet to respond.