Tenants in East London are being forced out of their homes by landlords looking to cash in on the increased demand for accommodation during the Olympics, it has been reported.
The BBC has spoken to tenants in the east end, with some alleging that they are being forced out of their flats by unscrupulous landlords looking to make a huge mark up on Olympic lettings, with £350 a week properties being advertised for as much as £6,000.
Housing charity Shelter has accused landlords of illegally evicting tenants to cash in on the artificial demand created by the games.
Campbell Robb, Chief Executive at Shelter, said: “Londoners living in the Olympic boroughs are already suffering from increasingly unaffordable rents, a lack of stability and a minority of rogue landlords who exploit the high demand for homes in the capital."
According to Robb, the Games are exacerbating these problems, with some landlords looking to evict tenants and re-let their homes to Olympic visitors.
On Tuesday, Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister Jack Dromey responded to reports by condemning the supposed profiteering. He said: “Rents are rising and tenants face growing abuse from rogue landlords profiteering from the housing crisis and the Olympics.”
According to the National Landlords Association, tenants do have the law on their side, with landlords who ask tenants to leave on short notice possibly subject to charges of harassment, even imprisonment.
Research conducted by the renting website SpareRoom.com suggests that Olympic lets currently make up 4% of the London market, with this figure expected to grow closer to the event.
Visit any of the raft of Olympic rental websites and the there is certainly plenty of supply, with London-property-rental 2012.com, rentals4olympics.com and rentduringthegames.com all boasting scores of flats and houses, with prices ranging from a hundreds to tens of thousands a week.
However, demand for the properties, particularly those looking for block bookings of two weeks or more is difficult to gauge.
Shelter’s concern is focused at the bottom end of the rental market, with many properties in Stratford and the surrounding boroughs currently being leased by low-income renters.
According to research carried out by the flat and house share website Easyroommate.co.uk, demand for properties within these Olympic boroughs is already beginning to push up average rents.
However, the website’s director, Jonathan Moore, warned: “The huge premiums demanded by some landlords have yet to materialise.”
Robb is equally sceptical about the huge expectations of landlords looking to turn a quick profit, saying there is “no guarantee that rentals made available during the Olympics will be filled”.
The situation is equally confused further out from the Olympic boroughs, with areas such as Chelsea, Kensington and Westminster suffering a drop in average rental prices.
"It is still unclear the extent to which landlords will benefit from high value, short term lets over the Olympic period,” said Lynn Hilton, a Partner for residential letting at Cluttons, which deals with properties in Belgravia, Chelsea, Clapham, and Hyde Park.
Due to the general nervousness in the property market, many landlords are looking to keep existing tenants rather than gamble on turning a big profit for a short –term Olympic let.
“Those who have good quality tenants in place are looking at the bigger picture and focusing on securing on going Short hold Tenancy Agreements, thus reducing the risk of void periods," said Hilton.
Chris Norris of the National Landlords Association agrees. He warned:
"We would advise landlords to look at their long-term business plan as it is unlikely to make commercial sense when the risks associated with short lets and costs of finding new reliable tenants is taken into account. If a landlord has a good relationship with a reliable tenant we would not advise jeopardising the status quo for a quick gain."
According to Camilla Shaughnessy, owner of EventfulStays.com, the demand for Olympic rentals is not what landlords were expecting.
“There are a lot of people out there looking to rent their property out… and many of the premiums landlords were demanding just aren’t being realised,” she told the Huffington Post UK.
Property owners have got a bit more canny about accepting what they can if they want to rent out. We had property owners looking for two week bookings, but the people who are coming are looking to book three or four nights, so many of the property owners will be quiet disappointed by what they realise from the Olympics."
Correction:An Earlier version of this article stated the name of the NLA spokesperson was Chuck. It is in fact Chris.