Rent cost '˜enough for home deposit'

The cost of renting in Yorkshire has been revealed by Shelter

Over the last five years someone renting a a typical two bedroom house in York will have spent more than £40,000 compared to less than £25,000 in Barnsley.

Across most of the region, the cost of renting over the last five years has cost the equivalent of at least a 20 per cent deposit on a first time buyer’s property.

Housing charity Shelter, which produced the research, claimed the lack of affordable housing to buy in Yorkshire was forcing people to spend thousands of pounds to live in expensive rented accommodation.

Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said: “When just five years of rent could get you the deposit on a house, it’s no wonder that renters in Yorkshire and the Humber feel like they’re getting a raw deal, paying through the nose for something they can never call their own.

“Our drastic shortage of affordable homes is leaving millions of people stuck in their childhood bedrooms in a bid to save money, or in expensive and unstable private renting with little hope of ever saving for a home to put down roots in.

“It doesn’t have to be this way – the government can turn things around by investing in homes that people on ordinary wages can actually afford to buy, or rent for the long-term.”

Across the region as a whole, the average renter of a two bedroom property has paid almost £30,000 to their landlord over the last five years.

According to Shelter, that represents 21 per cent of the cost of a typical first time buyer’s house in Yorkshire which it puts at £141,584.

Figures published last month suggest 46 per cent of those aged between 25 and 34 privately rent compared to less than a quarter 10 years ago.

John Healey, the Wentworth and Dearne MP and Shadow Secretary for Housing and Planning, said: “After five years of failure under Tory Ministers, there are over 900,000 more households renting from a private landlord than in 2010.

“One in four of all households with kids are now private renters.

“Ministers have resisted every one of Labour’s proposals to help renters with high housing costs and poor conditions– they even rejected our plan to require private rented homes to be fit for human habitation.

“Ultimately, what most renters in Yorkshire want is to own a home of their own.

“That’s why I’ve commissioned the independent Redfern Review to help Labour get to grips with the barriers to home ownership that renters face.”