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Tenants

The People on the Frontline of Britain's Housing Emergency

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Tenants

By: Vicky Spratt
Narrated by: Vicky Spratt
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About this listen

One of the best books of 2022, Metro, Evening Standard, Refinery29, Cosmopolitan.

Tony is facing eviction instead of enjoying retirement; Limarra isn't 'homeless enough' to get help from the council and for Kelly and her asthmatic son Morgan, another new rented house is a matter of life and death. This is 21st-century Britain, where millions are forced into the private rental sector—a sector that creates profit for landlords, not safe and stable homes for tenants.

In this fierce and moving account, journalist Vicky Spratt traces decades of bad policy decisions to show how and why the British dream of homeownership has withered and the safety net of social housing has broken. Through the lives of those in the renting trap, she illuminates the ways this crisis is devastating our health, communities and political landscape. But, as the COVID epidemic showed, there are also real, radical steps we can take to give everyone the chance of a good home.

©2022 Vicky Spratt (P)2022 Profile Books Ltd Poverty & Homelessness Social Sciences Sociology Urban

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Critic reviews

"A must-read." (Cosmopolitan)

"A major new book on the history and politics of renting." (Evening Standard)

"There is nobody better placed to write a book that tells the stories of 'Britain's housing shame'." (Metro)
All stars
Most relevant  
As a housing professional who has worked in the sector for nearly 25 years, I was interested in what Vicky would have to say. I was impressed with how well researched and insightful this was. It was brought to life by case studies. Great to hear someone as passionate about this issue as I am.

insightful and passionate

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The lilting delivery is difficult to listen to for long periods of time. But in general this was a very insightful book.

Difficult to listen to

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I loved this simple, down-to-Earth exploration of Britain’s messed up housing crisis illustrated with real-life examples of its horrors. Throughout claims are reasonably backed up and referenced and ideas presented, not necessarily Spratt’s own but an amalgamation of existing ideas which portrays hope that there is a way forward, which doesn’t have to be (overly) radical.

The narration is spot-on and Spratt’s frustrations are clearly voiced. If a paperback version is published then I’ll buy that in the future to dip in and out of and I’m confident I’d buy anything else Spratt writes.

Sublime

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A detailed and authoritative read - highly recommend listening to this if you live in the UK!

An important read

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Great book, great content. It’s just such a shame that the narrator (who naturally has a really lovely narrating voice) uses unnatural intonation. It’s as if she’s been tutored on how to speak on an audiobook but has overused the techniques. I hate leaving negative reviews but I just hope if there’s a sequel there is a more natural delivery because it’s distracting and I can only do a chapter at a time. Great content though - I do recommend it.

Good purchase. Glad I bought it…

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Whilst I’ve got some understanding of those reviewers who struggled with the lilting delivery, the book benefitted from being read by its author, in my opinion. It is an instructive and sobering analysis of the housing crisis in the UK and, regardless of your political persuasion, well worth a listen.

Hugely important book

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This book is really about a young woman who can’t see the wood for the trees. She hates private landlords and sees them all as bad people trying to scam ordinary normal folk, when in reality most landlords just want to provide a nice warm safe home but also help themselves plan for retirement. She had a bad experience when she was 7 years old which has obviously scarred her for life. Another reviewer said she was like Greta Thunberg and I honestly couldn’t agree more. It’s a few select people who’ve had some misfortune in their lives but haven’t we all and can’t go round saying “woe is me”!!

A very one sided book

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Really interesting book relevant to the modern world BUT the way the author speaks makes this really hard to listen to, bizarre tone scaling up and down as if asking a question during standard sentences.

Interesting Book, terrible narration.

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This was undoubtedly well intentioned and represents a sincere investment of time and emotion, but far too much of the latter.
The over—emphatic reading style is a serious distraction, but so is the book’s unnecessary length and its concentration on a few individual horror stories that divert the reader’s focus from the real problems in the machinery of government. The accounts of surveys snd stats are what we need and all the fashionable tropes of woke ideology are a matter of opinion and not fact. The author is preaching to the choir at a time when oreaching is a real obstacle to getting important issues across to the public at large, nd screeds of superficial idealism iss not helpful.
The epilogue was the time to bring together a factual account of the problems with suggested solutions rather than weeping and wailing and doing small passable imitation of Greta as an irritating teenager.
What concerns me is that professional reviewers seem to have fails in pointing out the serious defects that impair this production from achieving maximum impact.
This writer attended a lecture by a high/up from Shelter on the London housing scene some years back that made far more impression than this poorly edited and tediously delivered rant.

Needs sympathetic editing!

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I empathise with the autor that there are bad landlands, and it is difficult to get on the house ladder. I agree there should be social housing believe it would be impossible to provide it for everyone. I was a tenant in England for 12 years moved around a lot due to work, rented rooms for 6 months to 2 years and rarely had a problem with a landlord, had problems with other tenants, (up all night drinking and playing music, not washing up ect). After listening to books such as Basic Economics, Economic Facts and Fallacies, The Great Courses Economics, I would disagree with the author on most of her arguments.

One Sided

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