‘Can that be legal?’ UK tenants forced from their homes by soaring rents

Margaret Perry, a screenwriter from north London, was told by her landlord on Easter Monday that her rent was rising by 22%. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer

Margaret Perry wants to buy a house one day. But the increases in her energy, water and council tax bills over the past few weeks have dented her ability to save. Then, on Easter Monday, her landlord called to say the monthly rent on her shared house was going up by £500.

Instead of £675 a month, plus bills, for her room in Haringey, north London, her rent would rise to £825 – a 22% increase. “That’s just not an option,” said Perry, who earns about £30,000 a year and lives with two friends. “It’s hard enough as it is.”