Tameside records the largest percentage rent hike in the country between 2019-2024.

 

The leader of the opposition on Tameside Council, Cllr Allan Hopwood of Reform UK, has written to the Prime Minister Andy Burnham, calling on him to end the procurement of asylum accommodation in Tameside and to cap what contractors may pay private landlords, at the Local Housing Allowance rate. 

Tameside saw the highest percentage average rent increase in England between 2019 and May 2024, with private rents rising by more than 40%, from an average of £555 to £780 a month. According to BBC News, Tameside recorded the largest percentage rent hike in the country over that time frame. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and RenterCheck, the average private rent in Tameside has continued to rise reaching £935 a month as of September 2026. 

A major driver of these rent increases is Serco, who are approaching local private landlords in the neighbourhoods of Tameside, with guaranteed long-term above-market rents if they house asylum seekers. Rents are now outstripping both wages and the Local Housing Allowance, which is pushing more families into debt and poverty. Ordinary family homes are also being taken out of the local market for Home Office contracts to house asylum seekers. The Labour government of Andy Burnham, is effectively competing with local residents for homes in Tameside to house asylum seekers on Home Office contracts.

Those who house asylum seekers on Home Office contracts, like Graham King of Clearsprings Ready Homes, are making millions by housing asylum seekers.In recent weeks there have been a number of attacks on Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs), in the area, which has led to window's being broken and graffiti sprayed on the buildings including the Nazi swastika. Not all these HMOs were housing asylum seekers. One of them is known to have been housing young adults who have recently been in care.