Generation Rent

Generation Rent Synopsis

''The housing crisis is just getting started,' warns Timperley in this important book.' - MARTIN CHILTON, THE INDEPENDENT'An essential read about a broken housing market.' PETER APPS, INSIDE HOUSING'A lively account of arguably the country's biggest social and economic problem.' MARTIN WOLF, FINANCIAL TIMESFor millions of Britons renting a home privately is the only option. By 2025, more people are expected to rent than own their own homes.

Even members of Generation Rentwith good jobs and skills have been priced out of the property market. In this razor-sharp account of how a nation of homeowners gave way to a generation of insecure renters haemorrhaging cash, Chloe Timperley tackles the myths and mysteries belying so many attempts to 'fix' Britain's broken housing market.She reveals who's being shafted, who's cashing in - and the radical steps we must take togive everyone a good home, whether rented or owned.A fast-paced jaunt around both buyingand renting in Britain, Generation Rentis the essential guide tothe UK's ruinously expensive property market.Revealing how the UK came to have runaway house prices, Chloe Timperleydispels the notion held by some older people that the current generation of young people can't buy homesbecause they are feckless and squander theirmoney on avocado toast.First, she charts the rise and fall of councilhousing.

From the early 20th Century onwards, high-quality public sector homes provided plentiful affordable homes that mixed social groups well. Then Margaret Thatcher's Right to Buy sold off local authority housing and the number of council homes for rent crashed. Some council estates became known as 'sink estates', killing the municipal dream of post-war planners.As a result, from the 1980s onwards, more renters in Britain have come to rely on the private rental sector.

Backed by generous incentives from successive governments, renting has become a lucrative form of investment and credit has boomed. Buy to Let pensioners and privateequity companies have moved into the market, buying up and renting out houses and flats. Most would-be first-time buyers have been outcompeted and priced out.For those who can afford to buy, Generation Rentreveals that 'entering the kingdom ofhome ownership' may not beeverything they expected, as a resultof small properties and huge mortgages.

In this concise book, Chloe Timperley tackles the surprising truth about housebuilding, including land agents, housebuilders' profits, and the leasehold trap.She delves deeply into the world of private rented accommodation.Like Tenants by Vicky Spratt, Generation Rent charts the real problemsfaced by ordinary tenants, fromextortionate rents for fleapits to no-fault evictions. We hear from tenants on the end of harassment from landlords and landladies and who struggle to afford booming rents.

And we get to know those who are about to lose their home through eviction and the causes and extent of homelessness. But we also hear about housing from the other side - from the small investors who have retreated into renting property amid successive pension scandals. To research the book, the author goes undercover at a Buy to Let conference and landlord seminars.

Generation Rent is for anyone who wants to understandthe reality of private renting and the practice and pitfalls ofhome buying. It's foranyone who wants to knowwhy they can't afford to get on the 'housing ladder' and whyrent eats up half their wages.And it reveals a way out of the mess, rooted in the work of economist HenryGeorge.About the AuthorChloe Timperley lives in Sheffield.