Private rent prices have been on a consistent rise across London over the last decade, with Islington having one of the sharpest increases , forcing renters to leave the borough they call home.
The average weekly rent in Islington climbed from £105.84 in 2013-14 to £135.89 in 2023-24, 28% rise, the latest figures from The London Datastore show.
The rise places Islington among the most expensive boroughs in the capital as it sits above the London wide average of £122.32 per week.
An Islington mum of two is currently living in temporary accommodation after being evicted due to being unable to pay her rent after her landlord raised it.
She said: “Islington used to be for the working man and for a while now the working men are being pushed out.
“How is it fair to spend the majority of your life somewhere and then not being able to stay there once you have grown up due to high rent?”
Campaigners Generation Rent found that between 2022 and 2024, rapidly rising rents led to poor experiences for renters beyond just having to pay more.
Deputy Chief Executive Dan Wilson Crew said: “During those two years many landlords evicted tenants using section 21 so that they can charge higher rents to new tenants.”
He added that the search for new homes for renters became harder and more stressful with mass viewings and bidding wars becoming the norm and some landlords demanding long tenancies or requesting CVs or phots before agreeing to a tenancy.
Wilson added: “Renters who relied on benefits found it particularly hard to find a place that they could afford.”
The consequence, Wilson said was displacement as residents who lived in inner-London areas such as Islington were being forced to look further afield, away from their communities and workplaces in search of somewhere affordable to live.
This pattern paints a wider picture of the gentrification that has been occurring in Islington over the past decade.
Once a predominately working-class borough, it now contains some of the most expensive streets in London falling just behind Kensington and Chelsea on weekly private rent prices.
But poverty and deprivation are still prominent in the borough and has been over the last 10 years, existing alongside extreme wealth.
In 2010 Islington’s Fairness Commissioner reported that the borough is a place of stark inequalities, calling the borough “two Islingtons”.
Islington Council said it recognises the scale of the problem and is taking action.
Councillor Jason Jackson said: “We are seriously concerned about the rise in private rents over the last decade.
“We are doing everything we can to protect those who rent in Islington.”
He pointed to the new Renters’ Right Act as a “transformative piece of legislation” that the council welcomes as it is going to give private renters greater security and stronger protections.
He added: “Alongside the Act the council is also acting locally to improve standards in the private rented sector, using our licensing powers, inspections and enforcement to hold landlords to account.
“We have taken steps to increase genuinely affordable housing in the borough, including buying back more than 800 former Right to Buy homes to provide homes to those who need them most.
“We will continue working to ensure residents have access to secure, safe, affordable, and decent housing.”
But the scale of private rent increases in London as whole suggests these methods are fighting an uphill battle.
Although compared to other UK regions London’s private rent percentage growth has been one of the smallest over the last decade, once the statistics are broken down it reveals that London rent started from a far higher base than anywhere else in the country.
That means even a small percentage increase translates into much more pounds being spent weekly.
Islington residents in 2023-24 were on average spending £135.89 a week whereas residents in the region with the largest percentage increase, the North East were spending on average £84.72 during that same period.
Private rent across the UK has been on rise for the last decade and the number of households that have been displaced due to increased rent has been going up since the pandemic.
That number increased from 450 in 2018/19 to 1,370 in 2024/25, quadrupling in a single year, going from 330 in 2021/22 to 1,450 in 2022/23.
Featured Image Credit: Unsplash Daniil Korbut
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