Today is the UK average Cost of Rent Day. Calculated by the Adam Smith institute, this is the date on which the average UK renter stops paying their annual rent bill and can start putting their wage towards bills, food, and their other living costs. But people living in three of the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester will have to wait for up to two more months, with renters in Manchester City being the hardest hit, working until 17th June.
Average private rents in Manchester have risen by 43% in five years, from £940 per month in March 2021 to £1,347 in March 2026. The pace of increase far outstrips the rate of wage growth.
“The extortionate rent rises year after year across Greater Manchester, when compared with flatlining wages, is pushing many tenants to breaking point. Renters need permanent, between-tenancy rent controls and mass council housing building” says Greater Manchester Tenants’ campaigns officer Grace Brown.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), rent is considered affordable if someone is paying 30% or less of their gross income on their rent, meaning a truly affordable Cost of Rent Day would fall on 16th April. But seven of Greater Manchester’s ten boroughs Cost of Rent Day falls after this date.
The Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) came into effect on 1st May which means that rents can only be raised once a year, can be challenged more easily, and rental bidding wars are banned. It also brings an end to Section 21 no fault evictions, in an attempt to stop landlords evicting their tenants to raise rent for the next tenants.
But the RRA doesn’t do anything to address affordability for tenants, warns the Greater Manchester Tenants Union. Insecurity and worsening unaffordability in the private rented sector are contributing to increases in poverty and the temporary accommodation crisis, with more than 170,000 children living in temporary accommodations.
A YouGov poll found 48% of the British public strongly support a cap on annual rent increases.
