Housing - a basic human right or a money-making asset?

As of March 2026, landlords still have the power to remove tenants from their properties for any reason whatsoever. Section 21s, more commonly known as ‘no-fault’ evictions, are a completely legal way for landlords to make renters leave their homes with little notice given.

You could be a model tenant - paying rent on time month-after-month, taking good care of the property, and generally asking little of those who hold power over your housing situation. As the law stands, none of this has any bearing on a landlord’s ability to remove you from their property. They don’t even have to give you a reason why they’re doing it.

At long last, much needed protection will be afforded to renters this May as part of the Renters’ Rights Act. No-fault evictions will no longer be a constant threat that looms over the heads of tenants. Renters will have a way to fight back against landlords that weasel their way around agreements, forcing you to serve notice (and therefore giving up your rights) by hiking up next year’s rent by outrageous amounts.

This legislation should be celebrated. But it makes you ask - why have renters been left at the mercy of landlords for so long?

The lasting consequences of Right to Buy

There is a severe shortage of social housing in the UK. Much of this can be traced back to Thatcher’s reign, where she set out to dismantle Britain’s public housing system, transferring billions of pounds worth of public assets into the hands of private owners.

Her 1980 Housing Act meant that councils were told to offer council houses for discounted prices to their tenants, and were obliged to provide deposit-free mortgages to sweeten the deal.

This led to a massive decrease in the amount of social housing built, as councils couldn’t afford to replenish their housing stock.

The fallout from this policy, as well as the broken culture surrounding home ownership that it promoted, is still felt today. Owning a property was, and still is, seen as a marker of success and the fruits of one’s labour. A few decades ago, property ownership was a realistic goal for most working people. Nowadays, qualifying for a mortgage is out of reach, even for two income households.

Naturally, the act of owning property has twisted into something grotesque. Both individuals and corporate entities with the capital to do so have turned the ideal of owning the roof over your head into a money-making opportunity, buying up swathes of real estate for the sake of pure profit.

By controlling the supply of housing, the owning classes can drive up demand, house prices, and rent for ordinary working people, exploiting a basic human need into a money-making enterprise.

Housing should never be an ‘asset’ that can be bought, hoarded, and rented out at uncontrolled prices by those with the means and privilege to do so - with no regard given to the ordinary people who live in them. 

These are their homes, not the financial chess pieces of the free market that can be played and exchanged at the whims of the owning class, while tens of thousands of people live on the brink of homelessness.

The Renters’ Rights Act is a much overdue step towards balancing the scales of power. But the systems and policies in place by the acting government, alongside a wealth divide that continues to widen, will still allow parasites to profit off a basic human right.

We need to continually fight against the rot that’s seeped into this country’s housing system. We must take back ownership of property away from those who seek to exploit it and put it back into the hands of those who need it the most.

Written by SNCK volunteer Francis