Leeds costly for rented homes

Housing charity Shelter found someone renting a typical two bedroom house in Leeds would have spent £36, 804 or enough for a 26 per cent deposit on the kind of home normally bought by first time buyers.

Shelter claimed a lack of affordable homes to buy is forcing people to spend thousands of pounds on 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.”

Only Harrogate and York are more expensive places to rent in the region, according to Shelter, with Barnsley the cheapest.

John Healey, Labour’s Shadow Housing and Planning Secretary, 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.”