Our Story
Our Humble Beginnings
1986 A group of private renters who wanted to work collectively for better housing conditions set up BPTRG (Brent Private Tenants Rights Group) – known today as Advice4Renters.
1990’s – Laying the Ground Work
1994 We helped to establish The Association of Housing Advice Services (AHAS) an organisation that has been instrumental in advising professionals, landlords and the government on housing related issues.
1995 We lobbied MPs and provided amendments to the Housing Bill Committee to try to limit the damage to tenants’ rights in what became the Housing Act 1996.
1999 We succeeded in getting The Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 passed, which caps rent increases for regulated tenants – elderly renters on fixed incomes.
2000 – Opening an Office
2004 After years of campaigning, Advice4Renters was pivotal in getting licensing for large Houses of Multiple Occupation(HMOs) into the Housing Act 2004. The 2004 Act also included protection for tenancy deposits – the culmination of another of our long campaigns.
2007 We ran a three year pilot to test the impact of a holistic service for clients, offering a range of support aimed to raise aspirations for a better home and a better life offering.
2010 – Expanding our Services
2010 An external evaluation of the three year pilot evidences a marked improvement in the health and wellbeing of clients receiving A4R’s holistic, person-centred services. A4R adopts an overarching aim of Improving Health and Wellbeing and embeds this broad approach, developing further support services towards this aim.
2011 We partner with energy groups in a campaign that results in the Energy Act 2011, which outlaws the letting of very inefficient energy-rated properties from 2018.
Advice4Renters and renters’ groups in Scarborough and Blackpool establish the National Private Tenants Organisation (NPTO) to represent the nine million renters around the UK.
2013 We secured funding for the NPTO to become independent, now known as Generation Rent.
2016 We developed Brent Community Advice Network (BCAN) on behalf of Brent Advice Partnership, which runs the local advice website Brent Advice Matters.
2017 We launched Renters Legal, a specialist housing advice service for paying clients.
2018 Our new project Under One Roof, targets support for renters in fuel poverty and those needing support with money worries, and Green Light Laws, to bring test cases to court which fall outside the scope for legal aid.
We established a Senior Renters Group which joins our lobby to abolish shorthold tenancies and the infamous ‘no fault’ s.21 evictions, stressing the anxiety caused to older renters who do not have a secure home for as long as they need it for.
2019 We launched our ‘It’s All About Money’ programme to train money mentors and expand on our financial inclusion work.
2020 – Climate change and COVID-19
2020 With the Climate Emergency now underpinning all of our work, we launched our ‘Warm Homes, Cool Planet’ Campaign to raise awareness that it is illegal for landlords to let homes with an Energy Rating below E, and help tenants in cold homes to take legal action and others to claim the Warm Homes Discount.
We start to prepare ourselves for our most important year yet - Supporting the thousands of renters at risk of losing their homes due to COVID-19.
We became a founding member of the Renters Reform Coalition, a group of 19 organisations, including the National housing charities, who are on a mission to ensure the Renters Reform Bill delivers a just housing system, and safety and security for tenants.