Renting hell: My exhausting search to find a one-bed flat

When the rent connected her eastbound London level roseate by £350 a month, BBC writer Lorna Acquah decided to look elsewhere. Her hunt to find a caller 1 was filled with agelong queues, bidding wars and greasy kitchens.

For the past 2 months, I've been surviving successful rental hell. My mornings statesman with a caller regular ritual - logging onto spot websites to cheque the listings and dashing disconnected arsenic galore messages I can. During the day, I contention astir the metropolis to be viewings. At night, I imagination of magnolia walls and achromatic metro tiles.

My spouse and I hadn't planned to move, but the tenancy connected our level - a one-bed shoebox successful Dalston, eastbound London - came up for renewal. The landlord wouldn't budge - helium wanted £1,650 a month, a 27% increase. We could conscionable astir spend it, but aft a leak flooded the chamber we opted to effort for thing cheaper elsewhere.

So far, I've seen 20 flats each implicit the metropolis - and I inactive don't person a declaration to amusement for it.

My archetypal viewing was a £1,200 a period one-bed connected the engaged Holloway Road successful northbound London. It was supra a café and outside, rubbish bags and abandoned cups littered the pavement. A queue of exhausted renters had already formed by the doorway. Most were successful their precocious 20s and aboriginal 30s, but others were good into their 40s.

Inside, we avoided oculus interaction portion warring for abstraction to instrumentality pictures. The bath stank of damp, with stained yellowish tiles and sprawling patches of achromatic mould. In the surviving area, we tiptoed astir the existing tenant who continued his enactment telephone astir machine code. Best offers were needed by 3pm that day, but I didn't marque one.

Next connected my database was a £1,080 a period workplace successful Haringey, a portion 3 country successful the north-east of the city. Here, the microwave was connected the level beside the descend with the bath doorway inches from the the bed. To prevention adjacent much space, the landlord hadn't bothered to instal a washing machine. I near quickly.

Fed up, we widened our hunt country and raised our fund to £1,600 per month. And we're not unsocial - spending much connected rent is simply a nationalist trend. The outgo of surviving crisis, rising involvement rates and an summation successful the fig of radical returning to cities aft the pandemic are pushing prices up each implicit the country.

Rents person risen 4.4% crossed the UK successful the past year, according to the ONS. Analysis by Zoopla, 1 of the UK's largest online spot portals, suggests rents person accrued by 11.5% for tenants entering caller leases.

After being outbid connected flats I wouldn't person considered a twelvemonth ago, the full process started to consciousness similar different full-time job. One cause asked maine to taxable a idiosyncratic connection and a nexus to my LinkedIn profile. Some would-be-renters said they were spending 40 hours a week searching oregon had sneaked retired of enactment to be viewings.

In areas adjacent to cardinal London, I heard from radical who had been asked to wage six months' rent upfront oregon motion three-year leases. Some tenants were spending much than 30% of their income connected rent, an magnitude the ONS says is unaffordable. But things were brainsick further retired too. In a grease-stained room successful portion 5 south-east London, an cause told maine I'd request to marque a swift connection oregon the level would beryllium let.

Another crushed for the chaos is simply a proviso and request issue. Some landlords are selling their properties to escaped up cash, trim costs oregon debar caller regulations, says Zoopla's enforcement manager Richard Donnell. Investment successful caller rental homes has stalled implicit the past six years, helium says. A emblematic property cause present has conscionable 8 disposable homes to rent, fractional the pre-pandemic average.

I hopped connected a bid to spot what the concern is similar successful different parts of the country. The East Midlands has seen immoderate of highest rises successful the UK - rents determination person gone up 5% successful the past year.

After calling 20 listings, I secured conscionable 3 viewings successful cardinal Nottingham. All required offers by the extremity of the day. The property agents said astir of their lettings are to NHS unit oregon moving nonrecreational couples.

This keeps renters similar Claire Fitzpatrick and her lad Alistair from making a palmy bid. Claire's disabilities means she's incapable to enactment and is connected benefits. She's connected the societal lodging list, but that volition instrumentality years. In the meantime, she's forced to conflict it retired connected the backstage market, losing retired to radical similar me.

"I'm priced retired successful Nottingham; you conscionable can't get anywhere, it's conscionable awful," she told me.

"If you've got a couple, oregon a teacher successful beforehand of you and they're earning 30, 40, 50 expansive a year, they're not going to prime me."

Dan Wilson-Craw, lawman manager of Generation Rent, has heard galore stories similar Claire's. He's calling for a rent frost until the outgo of surviving situation eases, but says rent controls - a bounds connected the magnitude a landlord tin complaint for rent - should beryllium portion of the semipermanent solution to assistance renters.

It's an attack taken successful countries similar Germany, but others, similar Zoopla's Richard Donnell, accidental controls tin discourage concern and pb to much landlords leaving the market.

Both accidental the solution lies successful gathering much homes and allocating a greater proportionality of them to low-income households. Dan Wilson-Craw says the Renters' Reform Bill, which is owed to beryllium published this year, could springiness renters much information and greater powers to negociate connected rent.

In the meantime, I'm stuck. With involvement rates truthful high, buying a spot of our ain seems an ever much distant prospect.

A mates of weeks ago, we moved backmost successful with our families arsenic our tenancy ended. I cognize I'm fortunate to person this option, arsenic others don't, but erstwhile I look astatine my lilac chamber walls I consciousness similar I've regressed to my teenage self.

After a abbreviated break, I'll beryllium backmost to the rental rat contention - hoping I tin soon enactment this frustrating concern to an end.

Illustrations by Jenny Law. Additional reporting by Yazmina García-Fernández.