Demonstrators gathered in London on Saturday to protest against the capital's soaring rents. Rising rents are destroying communities, said organisers the London Renters Union (LRU). They said the event comes amid a growing wave of renter-led demonstrations across Europe to highlight the impact of high rents and to demand controls.
Freelance theatre worker Jamie Campbell, 46, said that rent rises have made it difficult to cover the cost of living in Lewisham, south-east London. He said: My landlord increased our rent year on year, going from 1,225 to 1,700 since the pandemic. That's a nearly 40% increase in just a few years.
I found myself at my very lowest. It shouldn't be this hard to simply attain the human right of finding a home in the city where I work. The system needs to change and change now.
London was the English region with the highest rent inflation in the 12 months to October 2024, at 10.4%, according to recent Office for National Statistics figures. This annual rise was higher than in the 12 months to September 2024, 9.8%.
Collection
[
|
...
]