You can’t paint your walls, you can’t have a pet, you can’t guarantee you’ll have somewhere to live in six months time. Millions of us are paying sky-high rents but struggling to make a home in a housing system where safety and security takes second place to landlords’ profits.

Some private tenants face mould and broken boilers but daren’t complain. According to Shelter, complaining to your landlord about conditions in your home more than doubles your chance of being evicted.

How did private renting become so prevalent? Why are the rights of tenants so weak? And what does this mean for our ability to make a home?

Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Vicky Spratt, housing correspondent at the i and author of Tenants, and Kieran Yates, journalist and author of the upcoming All the houses I’ve ever lived in.

Further reading:

- Grab a copy of Vicky's book Tenants https://profilebooks.com/work/tenants/
- Kieran's book All the houses I've ever lived in is out on the 27 April https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/All-The-Houses-Ive-Ever-Lived-In/Kieran-Yates/9781398509832
- Kojo Koram's book Uncommon wealth is available here https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/kojo-koram/uncommon-wealth/9781529338652/
- Find out more about about the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's work on home-owners and poverty https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/home-owners-and-poverty

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Music by Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence.

Produced by Becky Malone, Margaret Welsh and Katrina Gaffney.

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The Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org