The Rent Trap
How we Fell into It and How we Get Out of It
Published on 20. March 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-0-7453-3646-6 (ISBN)
Description
Deregulation, revenge evictions, parliamentary corruption and day-to-day instability: these are the realities for the eleven million people currently renting privately in the UK. At the same time, house prices are skyrocketing and the generational promise of home ownership is now an impossible dream for many. This is the rent-trap: an inescapable consequence of market-induced inequality.
Rosie Walker and Samir Jeraj offer the first critical account of what is really going on in the private rented sector and expose the powers conspiring to oppose regulation. A quarter of British MPs are landlords, rent strike is almost impossible and snap evictions are growing, but in the light of these hurdles The Rent Trap shows how to fight back.
Drawing on inspiration from movements in the UK, Europe and further afield, The Rent Trap coheres current experiences of those fighting the financial burdens, health risks and vicious behaviour of landlords in an attempt to put an end to the dominant narratives that normalise rent extraction and undermine our fundamental rights.
Published in partnership with the Left Book Club.
Rosie Walker and Samir Jeraj offer the first critical account of what is really going on in the private rented sector and expose the powers conspiring to oppose regulation. A quarter of British MPs are landlords, rent strike is almost impossible and snap evictions are growing, but in the light of these hurdles The Rent Trap shows how to fight back.
Drawing on inspiration from movements in the UK, Europe and further afield, The Rent Trap coheres current experiences of those fighting the financial burdens, health risks and vicious behaviour of landlords in an attempt to put an end to the dominant narratives that normalise rent extraction and undermine our fundamental rights.
Published in partnership with the Left Book Club.
Reviews / Votes
'Every private renter in the UK needs to buy this book' -- Shiv Malik, Guardian investigative journalist and co-author of 'Jilted Generation' 'It is time to change what is possible. Rents are too high. The quality of what is rented is too low. Rights are minimal. The market has failed. Rosie Walker and Samir Jeraj have explored all the possible escape routes and found the way out' -- Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford, and author of 'All That is Solid' (Penguin, 2015) 'The authors skilfully weave together stories and statistics, giving you human depth of anecdotes backed up with evidence' -- Green World 'Everyone should read this book' -- Left Foot ForwardMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Illustrations
2 b&w figures
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
211 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7453-3646-6 (9780745336466)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2016
1st Edition
Pluto Press
€9.49
Available for download
Persons
Rosie Walker the co-author of The Rent Trap (Pluto, 2016), is a social policy writer and researcher interested in housing, inequality, employment rights and debt. She writes for the Guardian, Observer, Independent, Inside Housing and Third Sector. As a researcher she has worked for London School of Economics, University of Bristol and University of Brighton. She was once evicted by her landlord for asking for a new chest of drawers.
Content
Series Preface
Acknowledgements
1. The Rent Trap
2. No Rights
3. No Money
4. No Home
5. No More?
6. The History of Private Renting
7. The Inequality Machine
8. What Else is There?
Appendix: How to Take Your Landlord to Court - Dirghayu Patel
Notes
Index
Acknowledgements
1. The Rent Trap
2. No Rights
3. No Money
4. No Home
5. No More?
6. The History of Private Renting
7. The Inequality Machine
8. What Else is There?
Appendix: How to Take Your Landlord to Court - Dirghayu Patel
Notes
Index