Somerset families say rental increases are ‘crippling’

Surging rental costs are pricing local people out of the housing market in Somerset, families say.

Its access to London has made it attractive for people able to work from home who want to leave the capital.

Rents in suburban and rural areas jumped by 11% on average in the wake of the pandemic, compared to 2% in cities, according to property portal Rightmove.

The government said it was investing in affordable homes and had built 243,000 such homes in rural places since 2010.

Rents in Somerset have now hit an average of £1,387, according to property database Home.co.uk.

Councillors say major employers in the region are worried about where their staff are going to live.

Mother-of-three Kay Turner from Frome was served with a Section 21 eviction notice after trying to challenge a £300 rent increase on her family’s four-bedroom rented house.

Ms Turner has lived in Somerset her whole life and moved to Frome in April 2019 but she and her family now face having to leave despite both her and her husband working full time.

Rents in the town have reached an average of £1,425 per month.

Ms Turner works as an administrator at a dental practice in the town, and also has a second job as a cleaner, and works from 05:30 to 18:00 every day.

Her husband works for a local carpentry business.

She said the rise in rent to £1,500 would eat up the entirety of her monthly salary.

There is already stiff competition for rental properties in Frome.

Anecdotally Ms Turner said she was aware of one property that had 24 people interested in it.

Speaking to BBC West she said: “I feel quite numb.”

“There was a previous part of my life when I was a single parent and never once was I homeless, I always provided a roof for my children.

“I am not far off 50, so to think I am doing two jobs and I am going to be homeless – it’s not something you expect.”

Ms Turner added: “We’re not frivolous people, we don’t have holidays, we don’t have expensive things, we’re just trying to keep a roof over our heads.

“It’s just sad the government thinks this is OK.”

In nearby Bruton, the chair of the town council, Ewan Jones said the rise of holiday lets had taken many rental properties out of the market.

“We have the UK’s biggest farmhouse cheese manufacturer in this parish, you talk to them and their number one concern is ‘where do our workers live?'”

He said schools in particular were worried about the supply of homes their teachers and support staff could afford to live in.

Phillip Vincent, from Action with Rural Communities in England, said increasing rents had a wider effect on the community.

“If you have people of working age who are being priced out of that area, that community can see a net loss of workers in local businesses and people spending money in the local economy,” he said.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “We are investing £11.5bn to build affordable houses.

“We are also delivering a fairer deal for renters through the Renters Reform Bill, so that all tenants have greater security in their homes and are empowered to challenge poor practice.”