More than a million private tenants saw their rent increased in the last month, a new poll has claimed.

Housing charity Shelter, which published the findings, is warning that many renters will become homeless unless the Government steps in to help.

The statistics from Shelter reveal that a third of private tenants, 2.6 million people, are paying more than half their income on rent, and a similar number are struggling to keep up with the payments.

Shelter is calling on the Government to increase housing benefit, which has been frozen at 2020 levels.

Urgent action

Polly Neate, CEO of Shelter (pictured), says: “With more than a million private tenants hit with a rent hike in just the last month, time is running out.

“To give cash-strapped renters a fighting chance, the Prime Minister must, as a minimum, urgently unfreeze housing benefit so people can afford to pay their rent or face an explosion in homelessness.”

Chris Norris (pictured), policy director for the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), says: “At a time when inflation is so high and landlord costs are rapidly increasing, the latest official data shows that average private rents across the UK have gone up by 3.4 per cent over the last 12 months.

“This shows that most landlords are prepared to bear the brunt of rising costs to keep tenants in their homes when they can.

“Particularly for tenants on low incomes, the Government should end the freeze on housing benefits.”