‘They could just evict us’: the tenants hit by huge hikes in UK rents

From Manchester to London, three people tell of stress, fear and eviction as cost of private renting rockets

Soaring rents making life unaffordable' for private UK tenants

8,000 a year; 300 a month; 60%. These are just some of the rent rises demanded from private tenants as winter approaches. The alternative can be eviction, sofa surfing or scrambling in an overheated market for another place. With homelessness the fear, it is extremely stressful.

The already expensive housing markets of London and the south-east are worst affected but it is a national problem. In Manchester Clara Graziani, 27, a customer services worker, was paying 695 a month on a city centre flat until she was served with an eviction notice in September. Her landlord used the no fault eviction" process the government has repeatedly pledged to abolish, but still hasn't. Graziani had agreed to pay 8% extra, but then, without explanation, she was evicted.