Is London the worst place to rent?

0:03Hi, I'm Julie Banks and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. If you're new here, don't forget to hit follow and give us a rating. Coming up. Obviously, rowers can fall sick from training and racing on build-ups to big events, so that's not necessarily a new thing. But we do also know that there are concerningly high levels of E. coli in the Thames. Ahead of this weekend's world-famous boat race, The Standards' Megan Howe is here with an update on the water quality of the River Thames and the health risk it could pose to the Oxford and Cambridge teams.

0:42But first. Policymakers, the people in parliament, the government do not care about just like the average person. House prices, they're mad expensive right now. So it's kind of hard for young people to get on the housing ladder. Everything from shops to housing, it's just the prices are soaring up and up and they never seem to decrease at the moment. Things are getting worse, things are getting harder, everything is more expensive. There's just nothing to protect people. The voice is there of just a few of the young people who shared their views on living in the capital as high prices, rising utility bills, rogue landlords and poor living conditions contribute to a growing crisis in London's rental market.

1:252.7 million people rent in London, paying on average around 40 % of their income on rent alone, which is 10 % higher than the recommended income to rent ratio, leading some people to have to take on multiple jobs or having to move out of the capital for good. Jacob Phillips has been reporting on this story for The Standard and joins us now. So Jacob, we heard the headlines there, but can you break down for us some of the issues which young people are facing when it comes to renting in London? Well, I think renting in London at the moment seems to be an astronomical cost. It can be incredibly difficult for young people to either firstly find somewhere to live and then secondly find somewhere within their means I mean you hear horror stories reporting on London of people paying well over half their income on housing over the past few years you've seen you know huge queues people trying to get flats endless sort of battles on spare room or right move to try and secure somewhere to live and it's yeah it seems to be becoming harder and harder to balance the books for a lot of young Londoners essentially pushing people away from the city.

2:28And even when people have managed to find somewhere to rent, it seems to be that there's a whole host of problems as well that are facing them in terms of the quality of the accommodation that they can afford. Definitely. I think now we're seeing more and more people in desperate situations for housing and also just having to put up with what is on the market. You get plenty of people, you know, stories of houses of horrors, situations where every room possible has been turned into a bedroom because the cost of renting is so high it's essentially a lot of money for people to make out of the situation as well so you know reporting on the issue over the last six months or so we have seen various court cases coming through there've been stories of you know eight people including children trapped in a house that would usually be for you know maybe half as many people won't believe where this happened where there were rats you know leaks a broken toilet um you know fancy and hopefully that this particular rogue landlord was taken to court over the incident but you know stories are awash and if you talk to young people or amongst friends i'm sure it won't take you long to find stories of rent increases you know going up quite dramatically some cases you even hear rent doubling in the capital i think the average price is definitely nearing a thousand pounds depending on where you are in the capital to rent a room that's not a property and yeah it's it's becoming harder and harder on top of you know rent costs and minor issues there's also some really serious issues going on in london's housing market and it's quite common to hear stories or to have people message us at the standard about serious issues to do with mold to do with damp you know in one case we had i had someone describing how the behind their cupboard was starting to look like the the last of us the zombie series it's very common that you get these stories and in extreme cases ceilings falling down.

4:17I've visited homes as a reporter where you can see the roof has almost bowled in with the amount of water above it from leaks from washing machines and other flats and things that have been propped up just by a piece of woods just to keep them going or literally plastered over. It can be quite bright and then some of these situations and the amount of damage it can cause is really scary. What kind of impact is this having on people's lives because these kind of conditions are just you know the stress of living somewhere like this not to mention the the financial stress of paying for accommodation what sort of knock-on effect is it having on people?

4:48I think people are you know consuming some people I think I think that that anxiety to live with with serious issues often taking on a landlord where you you may not know them personally in some cases they might not even be in the country it can be very hard to access and actually speak to someone about what's happening but it has a huge knock-on effect on lots of areas of life, I think. On an individual level, there's that lack of spending that goes on. You know, you can no longer go out and have meals out or go for a drink or just enjoy some of the smaller joys of life because so much of your income is taken up on housing.

5:20I think if someone who's earning around£32 ,000 a year in London, you know, is left with almost£350 a month to live off after renting in some cases or to, you know, left to enjoy things. So I think that's a really tough choice people have to weigh up in terms of, you know, the cost of living crisis striking and then the housing crisis also striking, while the two have been very linked. And that can be really challenging. And there are bigger issues as well in London because of this. I mean, away from young people, there's also a real issue with families living in London at the moment. You know, I think younger people in London now are weighing up whether they can actually afford to have children in the city, decide whether to have children.

5:59You know, we've recently seen the return to ward at the Royal Free close. I don't know how much that is. can specifically be put down to this issue. But demographics are really shifting in London. You know, where I live in Hackney, and I think there's six to 10 primary schools which are closing in the area, depending on the council's decisions, due to just a complete drop in birth rate. And I think that that's a clear indicator that a lot of families are starting to be priced out of London because of the increases in rent that started to move out of the city. And yeah, I think, you know, there's some real long-term life issues and decisions that are being hit because of this rental crisis.

6:34So the government is introducing the renters' rights bill. How much can we expect this to improve the situation for renters? Well, according to the government, it's going to be a huge change. I mean, this was dubbed the most significant change for 40 years in the sector. There's going to be some very specific measures brought in. So we're looking to see the end of no-fault evictions, so people won't be able to be turfed out of their homes without reason anymore. And the government is also promising to stop bidding wars for tenancies. So, you know, you might recall a few years ago, the sort of images of groups of 10, 15 young people or groups of people, you know, queuing up to try and get properties or shared flats.

7:13Hopefully these changes will bring an end to that over time. And the measures are also possibly going to help challenge rent increases, dramatic rent increases. So there's stories mentioned before where rent might be doubled in a length of an eye or someone's rent might go up a couple of hundred pounds. The government is trying to do more to stop that. And finally, they're also trying to prevent landlords from being able to demand huge amounts of rent up front. So, you know, a story we've covered recently at the Standard Store, one couple pay£51 ,000 a year's rent up front. And then it turned out that the landlord didn't actually own the property.

7:48So hopefully awful situations will hopefully be slowly stopped. And so there's plenty of changes to come in. It's an enormous task and fits in around the government's plans to try and build, I think it's 1.5 million new homes. That's their manifesto pleasure, so we'll just have to wait and see.

8:08Let's go to a break. Coming up in part two, one of the world's oldest sporting events is taking place on the Thames this weekend. But how much of a health risk does the river pose to those taking part? We'll see you back here in just a moment.

8:27Welcome back. One of the world's oldest and most famous amateur sporting rivalries takes place this weekend as Oxford and Cambridge universities go head to head in the annual boat race on the River Thames. The Standard's Megan Howe joined us to look ahead to the event. Megan, for those who aren't familiar with the history of the boat race, can you give us a brief overview of why it's so special? Of course. So it has a deep roosted history which dates back to the early 19th century. The first race took place on June 10, 1829 at Henley-on-Thames, but it became an annual event in 1856. It is regularly attended by over 250 ,000 spectators who sit on the banks of the River Thames, and it is watched by many millions more on television across the UK.

9:15There's an anniversary this year in that 2025 marks the 170th boat race to take place for the men's race and the 79th women's race, which started in 1927. Obviously, both races didn't take place during the First and Second World War, hence why there's a bit of a difference there. So there have been ongoing concerns about the water quality and consequently the safety of those taking part, especially with reports last year that several of the crew members were ill after the event. What's the situation as it stands? Water Quality Campaign Group at River Action have carried out testing along the stretch of the River Thames, where the boat race takes place between Putney Bridge and Mort Lake.

10:02Samples collected between March the 10th and April the 7th have shown E. coli levels are three times over the threshold for poor bathing water. And as a result, the site has been classified as poor, meaning by the Environment Agency standards, people would be advised against bathing due to the risks to human health. Wet weather usually exacerbates the issue of pollution through sewage discharges. But what's quite interesting here is that River Actions testing took place on March 1st and there's been just one day of rain since then. But 29.5 % of the samples exceeded safe limits for entering the water.

10:41Last year, Oxford University Boat Club confirmed that three members of their men's team fell ill with a stomach bug before they took part in the boat race. But the university said in a statement that they couldn't identify the cause. Obviously, rowers can fall sick from training and racing on the build-ups to big events, so that's not necessarily a new thing. But we do also know that there are concerningly high levels of E. coli in the Thames. Erica Popplewell, who is the River Actions Head of Communities, said winners of this year's boat race should reconsider partaking in the custom of throwing their cocks in the water after the race as a result of the findings.

11:20She said that there needed to be systematic reform of the water industry and its regulators and has called for Thames Water to be put into government control. So how are Thames Water responding to that? What are they doing to address these concerns? So in response to the concerns which have obviously been raised by campaigners, Thames Water has said that the boat race route is not a bathing water area and so they are not funded to routinely disinfect or sterilise liquid waste. They also said they had carried out tests at Fulham's boat club with results suggesting that the water quality was excellent.

11:55They also referenced the Thames Tidewater Tunnel, which has prevented over 6 million cubic metres of sewage from entering the tidal Thames since its connection earlier this year. For those who don't know, London's super sewer is part of an effort to reduce pollution and clean the city's river. And finally, Megan, where and when can people watch the boat race this year? So the boat race takes place this Sunday, which is April the 13th. The women's race will begin at 1.21pm and the men's race will take place an hour later at 2.21pm. For people wanting to head down in person, there are fan zones where people can sit and eat and there will be stalls and things like that.

12:36in Bishop's Park and Hammersmith's Fan Park in Furnival Gardens, which is near to Hammersmith Bridge. Other viewing spots along the route include Putney Bridge, Chiswick Bridge and the Pier House at Chiswick Pier. There will also be live coverage, which will be on BBC One and the BBC Sports website, as well as BBC iPlayer.

12:59And that's The Standard. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. and please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk. This podcast will be back on Monday. So until then, thanks for listening and have a wonderful weekend.