Rents make me mad too. I have to rent after I was forced to give up my mortgage. Meanwhile, my former husband has a multi-million pound property portfolio not a million miles from Southend, started with money from his new wife and his mother (who wouldn't give us anything as a couple, because she disliked me). From what my children tell me, he can charge more or less whatever rent he wants, because there's such a shortage of property. Fifteen years ago, his tenants were single occupiers, then only couples could afford the rents. Now, some of his properties have three or four sharers. The property is owned by an offshore company, so if the UK brings in rent controls, ex-hubby will invest somewhere else.