Key Points
- Haringey Council has announced plans to launch a new renters’ forum for private tenants.
- The forum is intended to give renters a stronger voice and help shape the council’s housing work.
- It will bring together tenants, council officers, community organisations and tenants’ rights groups.
- The council says many renters are struggling with landlords who ignore repairs, charge high rents and fail to meet responsibilities.
- The new forum is being created as a counterpart to the council’s longstanding landlords’ forum.
- Cabinet member for housing Cllr Tammy Hymas said private renting is “not working” and that tenants have felt powerless for too long.
- She said the forum will help identify challenges facing renters and support action against landlords who fail tenants.
Haringey (North London News) August 5, 2026 – Haringey has unveiled plans to launch a private renters’ forum aimed at giving tenants a more influential voice and strengthening efforts to hold rogue landlords to account. The move is designed to bring private renters into closer contact with council officers and local organisations so they can share experiences, raise concerns and help shape policy.
The forum will be open to residents in the private rented sector who rent either a bedroom or a home in Haringey. It is intended to offer advice and support, while also creating a space where tenants can discuss problems affecting their homes and tenancies.
Why is the forum being introduced?
As reported in the council’s announcement, the new forum comes in response to complaints from renters who say they are dealing with poor landlord behaviour. These concerns include ignored repair requests, extortionate rent levels and wider failures to meet landlord responsibilities.
The council says the forum is being launched because private renters have often felt powerless when problems arise. By creating a dedicated route for tenants to speak directly about their experiences, Haringey wants to strengthen its ability to identify patterns of poor practice and respond more effectively.
Who will be involved in the forum?
The open forum will bring together a range of participants, including residents from the private rented sector, council officers, local community organisations and tenants’ rights organisations. The council says the aim is to support renters and help them protect one another from bad landlords.
This approach is also meant to complement the existing landlords’ forum. By having a separate platform for tenants, Haringey says it wants to balance discussions and ensure renters are not left out of conversations that affect their housing conditions.
What did Cllr Tammy Hymas say?
As reported by Cllr Tammy Hymas, Co-Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing, of Haringey Council, the situation for private renters has been failing for some time. She said private renting “isn’t working” and that renters in the borough have felt powerless when things go wrong, whether because of poor conditions or unaffordable rent rises.
She said the new Private Renters’ Forum would give tenants a direct voice and a channel to share experiences, raise concerns and help shape the council’s work. She also said the forum would help the council identify the challenges renters face and take action against landlords who make significant profits while failing their tenants.
In her comments, Hymas said everyone should have a safe, secure and well-managed home. She described the forum as an important step towards ensuring renters are heard and supported, while also making clear that landlords who fail in their duty will be held to account.
How could the forum change council action?
The council appears to see the forum as both a listening exercise and a practical enforcement tool. By gathering first-hand accounts from renters, officers may be able to spot recurring issues more quickly and understand where landlords are failing to meet obligations.
That could help Haringey target its housing work more accurately, especially where tenants say repairs are being ignored or rent increases are becoming unaffordable. The forum may also help build stronger links between residents and tenant support organisations, which could make it easier for people to seek advice before problems escalate.
What does this mean for renters in Haringey?
For private renters in Haringey, the announcement suggests a more structured way to raise concerns with the council. Rather than dealing with problems in isolation, tenants will have a forum where their experiences can be shared alongside advice from housing and tenants’ rights groups.
The council’s stated aim is to make renters feel less powerless and more able to influence how housing issues are handled locally. If the forum is widely used, it could become an important channel for surfacing repair delays, poor conditions and landlord misconduct.
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Background of the development
Haringey already has a longstanding landlords’ forum, which gives property owners and housing stakeholders a space to discuss issues affecting the private rented sector. The new renters’ forum is being introduced as a counterpart to ensure tenants also have a direct say in council discussions.
The move reflects wider concern around private renting, where tenant complaints often focus on affordability, maintenance problems and landlord accountability. In this context, Haringey’s plan is part of a broader effort to strengthen communication between the council and residents who rent privately.
Prediction
If the forum is taken up by renters, it could give Haringey a clearer picture of the problems affecting the private rented sector and help the council respond more quickly to repeat complaints. For tenants, it may improve access to advice and make it easier to report landlords who are not meeting basic standards.
For landlords, the development may bring greater scrutiny, particularly where tenants use the forum to highlight poor practice. Over time, the initiative could encourage better compliance with housing responsibilities, although its impact will depend on how active the forum becomes and how strongly the council follows up on the concerns raised.
