Half of renters are living in cold, damp homes – Citizens Advice

I think a lot of it is because the so called 'charities' want better than social housing conditions at social housing rents.

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 24/07/2024 - 18:01
You would think there would be plenty of landlords or ex landlords willing to give some balanced input to CAB, Shelter, Crisis etc. if they sought it.

Of course landlords will talk their own book to a degree but these organisations could very easily get the gist of some of the underlying realities.

That the CAB is willing to put out such utter garbage (to the detriment of the tenants that do actually need help) is testament to the absolute groupthink and bias that is obviously endemic within.

Enough is enough. If there is a new group who can pitch a sensible line to represent tenants whilst at least having one foot on the ground in some of the realities, it could give the established bodies pause for thought. (If Gen Rent, and the others I’ve mentioned were doing any good how come everything is such a hopeless mess? And if they thing it’s because the Tories have been too soft on small landlords,I really do give up!).

From the research:
"All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2015 private renters in England. Fieldwork was undertaken between 12th - 14th June 2024. The survey was carried out online".

The meagre sample size cannot possibly provide any meaningful statistical analysis.

And how did they target the responders? Was there an advert on TV or in the papers or did they send out survey letters to people who had previously contacted CA? How many people here knew this survey was being carried out? Did anyone reply?

Ridiculous!

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 24/07/2024 - 12:48
Ian,
Responsible landlords will already have high standards. Personally, whenever I receive notification of an issue, I deal with it ASAP as I want my tenants to be happy and to feel safe and comfortable.

Reply to the comment left by SimonP at 24/07/2024 - 19:12
... and, how was the small sample size chosen. ?

Even the BBC reported this as though it is fact. Colletta Smith must be a very lazy reporter not to have spotted that this so called survey is at odds with the English Housing Survey and tenant satisfaction surveys. But then, she does work for the BBC.....

Reply to the comment left by SUSAN RIDINGS at 24/07/2024 - 12:27
Absurd! People having responsibility? Who would be needed to coddle them and tell them what to be scared and neurotic about next? You’ll say they have free will next or even suggest they have responsibilities of their own. No one wants to hear such heretical clap trap. It doesn’t build industries of waste nor enable creation of divisive power bases, which our enemies have no hand in promoting whatsoever.

Reply to the comment left by SimonP at 24/07/2024 - 19:12
I am not a statistician but many surveys have a sample size of 1000. It does appear that the survey was properly conducted. One of the notes is: "Quotas supplied by Citizens Advice were set on age, gender, region and social grade, whilst custom weighting was applied to ethnicity and disability to ensure data were representative of private renters in England and comparable to a 2023 survey Some figures based on additional analysis conducted by Citizens Advice using English Housing Survey data."

Before people dismiss this out of hand I would like to see commentary from someone qualified to criticise the methodology.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 25/07/2024 - 13:00
Funnily enough, I once had to process the survey of 'satisfaction' for customers of a large organisation. The questions asked were such that that overall answer could be 'directed' to that wanted by the company. we already knew the answer and could manipulate answers so they either appeared positive or negative.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 25/07/2024 - 13:00
Statistical Significance.
" Problems arise in tests of statistical significance because researchers are usually working with samples of larger populations and not the populations themselves. As a result, the samples must be representative of the population, so the data contained in the sample must not be biased in any way. In most sciences, including economics, a result may be considered statistically significant if it has a confidence level of 95% (or sometimes 99%).

Understanding Statistical Significance
The calculation of statistical significance (significance testing) is subject to a certain degree of error. Even if data appear to have a strong relationship, researchers must account for the possibility that an apparent correlation arose due to random chance or a sampling error. " source - Investopedia