Fibre broadband is becoming increasingly important so why are renters being denied it?

Therefore broadband should be viewed as and treated the same as a utility. People wouldn’t be expected to go without electricity and water, nor should they be expected to go without broadband.

That is why Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, is right to urge politicians to back a law change allowing renters to demand fibre broadband installations from their landlords.

He hopes peers and MPs back an amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill. Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Barbara Janke has proposed changing the bill to allow tenants to request the right for fibre broadband installation, ensuring that consent cannot be “unreasonably refused” by landlords and setting a 28-day time limit for property owners to give decisions.

It is absurd that Openreach is laying fibre outside blocks of flats and apartments but unable to get permission to go inside and finish the job.

In some cases blocks of flats are owned by overseas investors or absentee owners and this is denying renters the ability to get full fibre broadband.

Renting has become a prevalent feature of the housing market given the chronic shortage of homes. Young people in particular find themselves unable to get on the housing ladder and left facing a lifetime of renting.

They shouldn’t suffer from poor connectivity that would hinder them in their daily lives.