£300 rent hike for Welsh Streets tenants scrapped

People living in a famous set of Liverpool streets have been spared a rent hike that would have cost them an extra £300 a month.

Tenants in The Welsh Streets, where Beatle Ringo Starr was born, have agreed a deal with landlord Placefirst.

Up to 300 residents were set to be affected by the change, but the rent rise will now be capped at £60.

Placefirst said it was "pleased" to reach a resolution that "represents a balanced and sustainable outcome for all parties".

The Welsh Streets are named after the Welsh workers who built them and lived there in the late 19th Century.

Properties were derelict until regeneration plans by Placefirst were approved by Liverpool City Council in 2017.

But residents - some of whom feared they would have to move - discovered they were in line for the now-shelved rent rises in March.

Community union Acorn, which represented the residents said it has agreed a 6% cap on rent increases with Placefirst.

The cap covers the period to 31 December and is back-dated to 1 January.

Acorn said Placefirst had also agreed to address failings around disrepair, communication and treatment of tenants, and have agreed to formally recognise a new residents association.

Lee Brady, a Welsh Street resident who started the campaign, said the fight was "all about keeping people in their homes, supporting key workers, and preserving a vibrant Liverpool community".

Acorn Liverpool branch secretary, Martin Mawdsley, said it was a "historic win" not just for the union or the Welsh Streets, but for all renters in the country, adding it showed "ordinary people can fight back and win".

Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson said the outcome was a "victory for people power, adding: "[This is] a testament to what can be achieved when tenants stand together.

"The unity shown by the Welsh Streets community, and the tireless campaigning of Acorn members, has forced Placefirst to the table and delivered a better deal for residents."

Placefirst said it had "listened carefully" to concerns raised by residents and capped all rent increases for individual households at 6%, meaning an average rise of about £57 per month with no household seeing an increase of more than £80 per month.

"We fully understand the impact rent increases can have on residents and their communities and have apologised for our initial handling of this matter," it said.

"Since then, we have maintained ongoing and constructive dialogue with the affected residents to discuss their concerns, including through one-to-one, face-to-face meetings."

It said it was "pleased" to reach a resolution that "represents a balanced and sustainable outcome for all parties".

Placefirst added that the proposed rent increases were in line with average regional increases of 9% but there were "a small handful of cases", where residents were "paying well below market value" when the proposed increases were higher.

It said it had also proposed a rent cap for 2026 of 8%.

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