My rent has gone from £723 to £1,375 in three years – it’s genuinely scary

Emily Penycate, 33, had lived in her London flatshare for four years when she was served a now-banned no-fault eviction notice in March 2023. “It really was the first place that I’d felt really safe and home in since I was a child,” she told The i Paper. “I really, really didn’t want to leave. None of us did.” Around six months earlier, the tenants had panicked that the landlady was going to sell the flat after it had been repainted. “We were worried, like, ‘oh my God, she’s going to sell’. And she rang me and said: ‘No, no, Emily, definitely not selling. You guys are great tenants.’ “Then [six months later] she comes back with this email through the agent saying she’s going to sell.” They tried to fight the eviction but were told repeatedly that they had to leave as the landlady was selling. Then they got another nasty shock. “They served us the notice on Monday. And then on Friday, they relisted the property for rent – with our shower curtains still in there – at £1,000 more than we were paying. “I emailed them to say that was really disappointing and that we would have paid the increased rent, and they never responded,” she said. That wasn’t the end of their housing woes. After the eviction, Emily and her housemates moved into another three-bedroom property. This one was £916 each, which was a £193 increase on what Emily was paying before. The flat was above a café and near a busy road, so the noise and smells were also an issue, but they were happy with the place overall. Because of one of their flatmate’s health issues, they then had to move again to a ground-floor property. Emily explained that finding a ground-floor flat within their budget was “a nightmare”. After months of viewing mouldy and “disgusting” homes, they found one that was perfect, but far more expensive than they had hoped. “My highest budget was £950, then in the new place we were each paying £1,075. None of these included bills, so £950 was already pushing it. But I was like: ‘This ticks all the boxes. We’ve struggled, we’ve seen so many horrendous places. It’s got to be this.’ “We just did some numbers, made some cuts from other things and didn’t put the heating on all winter.” They lived in this property for a year. Emily moved in with her partner in April 2026, seeing another rise. Over the course of three years, Emily’s rent has increased from £723 to £1,375. Despite receiving a promotion and pay rises during this time from her work in finance, her hefty housing costs have stopped her from being able to save for her future. “Each time I got a pay rise I just felt relieved because my rent was about to go up again,” she said. “It’s crazy. I’m a 33-year-old woman. I should be able to afford to save money and I just can’t. I recognise I’m choosing to live in London, but it doesn’t really feel like a choice because [my] work’s in London.” Andy Burnham was reportedly considering rent controls as a part of his cost of living measures, but The i Paper understands that this is no longer the case. New data from Spareroom suggests that 85 per cent of renters would support rent controls or a cap. Emily is one of them. “I think the reason the private rental market has boomed is because of the lack of rent controls,” she said. “As properties and landlords get scarcer, they can put the rent up because we all get more and more desperate. “When I started renting in 2015 it all just felt easier and definitely cheaper. Now it’s genuinely scary.” Critics of rent controls, such as property specialist Jonathan Rolande, say that the policy would cause more problems for tenants. “Rent controls usually receive a positive response from the millions of tenants who outnumber landlords, who are understandably less keen on the idea,” Jonathan said. “But rent controls, or even the fear that there may be controls, will lead to landlords quitting the sector, following the many who exited prior to 1 May when the Renters Rights Bill became law. “With the same number of people looking to rent and ever fewer properties, there would be no incentive for landlords to purchase to rent or for builders to construct for rental. The figures just wouldn’t work.” Emily believes that a careful balance needs to be struck to address high rents. “There needs to be a way to make it so that it’s not too onerous on the landlords, because we do still need landlords, but it doesn’t then just become the tenants’ problem. “How can we be paying all this money for someone else’s house?”