Renters Are Working For 133 Days A Year To Pay Their Landlords

Renters in England worked for 133 days for their landlords this year. The 14th of May is the first day they start working for themselves.

• Cost of Rent falls on the 14th of May;

• English renters work 133 days of the year solely to pay their landlords;

• Cost of Rent Day is the day on which, on average, renters in England earn enough before tax to cover their annual rent bill;

• Cost of Rent days have been calculated for 9 regions across England and Wales and for each Local Authority in London 

• This analysis of local areas shows Cost of Rent Day is even later in England’s major cities and the South East;

• For example, the average Cost of Rent day in London is the 2nd of June, 19 days after the national average. 

• This research also exposed gaps in ONS housing statistics that need to be addressed to enable better tracking and understanding of the costs of rent;

• It is now incumbent on policy makers to fix the housing crisis, in particular, addressing the shortage of supply of homes.
  
  

Cost of Rent Day is the day on which renters in England stop paying rent and start putting their earnings into their own pocket. This year, the ASI has estimated that every penny that, on average, renters earned before tax for working before and including May 13th went to their landlord- from May 14th they are finally earning for themselves. 

The ASI has created this measure in order to translate the severity of the housing and rental crisis into simple terms that can be easily understood by all audiences. It provides a useful measure to hold politicians to account and track changes over time. 

To calculate the Cost of Rent Day, annual rents were divided by gross annual pay, to understand what proportion of earnings are spent on rent. Cost of Rent Days were calculated for 10 regions across England and Wales, and for each Local Authority in London. 

The Renters' Rights Act, which came into force on 1 May 2026, adds further regulatory burdens and costs on landlords, including the abolition of Section 21 notices and restrictions on rent increases. It does nothing to address the fundamental problem that the ASI outlines: there are not enough homes. By increasing the costs and risks of letting property, the Act is likely to make matters much worse by driving some landlords out of the market altogether, further tightening the supply of rental homes at precisely the moment more are needed.

Since the 70s, England’s construction of new homes has lagged behind population growth. In other words, new demand has outstripped supply. And, it is only getting worse. In 2024 English renters worked 125 days of the year to solely pay their landlords. 

Politicians must focus on creating the right incentives for developers and landlords, and on increasing supply.

The ASI has previously outlined a number of solutions, which it calls on the government to consider. These include bringing back UDCs to cut through red tape and unlock new houses and infrastructure, using compulsory purchase orders to buy, and develop on metropolitan green belt land, and give local residents a share of the profit, releasing all green belt land within a ten minute’s walk of a railway station for development, extending ‘full expensing’ to brownfield sites and abolishing section 106 agreements.

James Lawson, Chairman of the Adam Smith Institute, said:

“Renting in England has become unaffordable for millions, particularly in London and the South East where housing costs are swallowing ever larger shares of people’s incomes.

“This crisis is the direct result of a housing market strangled by planning restrictions, and years of failure to build enough homes. Instead of fixing the supply problem, ministers continue reaching for policies like the Renters’ Rights Bill that are already driving landlords out of the market and pushing rents even higher.

“The only lasting solution is to build far more homes. Britain needs planning liberalisation, and policies that encourage investment in housing rather than punishing it. Until we tackle the supply crisis head on, renters will continue paying the price.”

Gareth Bacon, Conservative MP for Orpington and Shadow Minister of Housing and Planning said:

“The Cost of Rent Day continues to get later each year,  which is clear evidence that the government is failing renters. Their punitive and counterproductive Renters Rights Act has increased the number of landlords leaving the market, stranding renters, and their failure to unblock housing is depriving young families of their own home. The Conservatives are the only party with a plan to bring the Cost of Rent Day backwards, and create a fair deal for renters and landlords.”

-ENDS-

METHODOLOGY:

• To calculate the Cost of Rent Day the ASI used the “Private rental affordability, England, Wales and Northern Ireland: 2024., as provided by the ONS. 

• These figures were then converted into proportion of days of the year, to provide the illustrative Cost of Rent Day figure. 

• Using otherwise unrounded inputs, this calculation implied 133 days of the year are spent on rent. The 133th day of the year is May 14th.

• This is a deliberately simple calculation and as outlined above and below, will not capture the nuances of individual circumstances. However, it enables a simple, transparent, and intuitive calculation - this is preferable to more complex alternatives we developed.

• Regional analysis is based on ONS data and segments England into: East, East Midlands, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands, Yorkshire and The Humber, and Wales. 

• London cost of rent day was segmented into each of the 32 Local Authorities. 

• The Median was used by default for both data sets. When a series of numbers are arranged by order of magnitude the median represents the middle value. The median was chosen instead of the mean, because the data sets are skewed and have outliers.

Further details can be found in the report.

Notes to editors:

For further comment, or to arrange an interview, please contact joanna@adamsmith.org| +44 7985540467

James Lawson is Chairman of the Adam Smith Institute. He led on the creation of Cost of Rent Day and is the author of the accompanying report.

The Adam Smith Institute is one of the world’s leading think tanks. It is ranked first in the world among independent think tanks and as the best domestic and international economic policy think tank in the UK by the University of Pennsylvania. Independent, non-profit and non-partisan, the Institute is at the forefront of making the case for free markets and a free society, through education, research, publishing, and media outreach.