“For every property we put on, we tend to find about 60 leads overnight.”
Adil Ayub has been an estate agent in Bristol for more than 20 years. We meet him and his colleagues as they open shop in St Werburgh’s, in the northeast of the city.
If they advertise a property in the evening, the work is essentially done by the morning: “By the time we get in at 9am, we’re already getting the phone calls and the leads we need to catch up with.”
The problem is so bad, not all properties are advertised online. Adil has a waiting list of hundreds of people, desperate to find somewhere to live in a city that’s becoming increasingly unaffordable.
The council here says Bristol is now the most expensive city to rent in outside of London.
Many of the reasons are the same as elsewhere in the UK – a chronic housing shortage, rising costs being passed on to tenants and many landlords simply selling up as buy-to-let becomes unprofitable, squeezing rental housing stock even further.
But Adil says the attractiveness of Bristol to outsiders is also a driving problem.
Image: Adil Ayub says the waiting list for properties is huge
“In Bristol, the guys that I class as born and bred Bristolians are having to effectively move out of the city where the rents are getting so expensive,” he said.
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“In Bristol, we do have the dynamic employers and we’ve been awarded many accolades as a city, so it’s a fantastic place to actually be.
“Now we are getting talent from outside of Bristol which, often if you look at their average salaries, it is a lot higher than the guys here, so that’s one of the challenges we are finding for people – it’s very competitive at the moment.”
We join Adil’s brother, Uz, on a house viewing two streets down from the office.
We meet Ricardo Retamales and Chelcie Brewer-Retamales and their four-month-old son.
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Bristol renters face frenzied competition
The couple left Bristol a few years ago and moved to Newport, South Wales, because property was cheaper. With a new baby, they’re trying to move back to Bristol to be nearer to family.
Ricardo says finding somewhere is challenging: “We call agencies all the time, we’re scouring Rightmove and any time we call there’s genuinely no viewings available, or the property has gone before we even get a chance to look at it.
“That, coupled with the quality of property that isn’t that great either, so we are kind of in a tough place right now.”
The three-bed house they’re viewing is on the market for £2,100 per month.
“Right now, it’s one of our salaries going purely on rental. That’s not including bills or nursery when the time comes – so half of our household income is going on that,” Ricardo says.
The couple’s search comes as the Office for National Statistics says private rental prices rose by 5.5% in the 12 months to August 2023.
There has been a sharp and continuous uptick in rental costs since the end of 2021.
London has had the highest annual percentage change, with the North East and South West following.
Bristol City Council wants to try to tackle the problem – and has asked the government for new powers so it can introduce a rental cap; a limit on how much landlords can increase rents.
“There needs to be an intervention,” Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees tells me.
“The way the housing market is going at the moment is not working for ordinary people. We have a situation in which hospitals and schools – vital employees – are struggling to recruit and retain staff, it’s a city that is becoming increasingly unaffordable to live in.”
He adds: “Fundamentally you’re looking at some kind of controls over the rate of increase in rents that people are paying… it has to be part of a national approach to housing.
“In Bristol wages over the past decade have gone up 24%, rents have gone up 52%. You cannot sustain that kind of situation.”
As I walk around the streets of St Werburgh’s there are thousands of homes – but I count fewer than three to-let signs – a sign of the market, and the real struggle people are facing in this city.
Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out forming coalitions at a local level with Reform after the council elections next week.
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Conservative leader did however categorically rule out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party on a national level.
“I am not going into any coalition with Nigel Farage… read my lips,” she said.
However, she did not deny that deals could be struck with Reform at a local level, arguing that some councils might be under no overall control and in that case, “you have to do what is right for your local area”.
“You look at the moment, we are in coalition with Liberal Democrats, with independents,” she said. “We’ve been in coalition with Labour before at local government level.
“They [councillors] have to look at who the people are that they’re going into coalition with and see how they can deliver for local people.”
She added: “What I don’t want to hear is talks of stitch-ups or people planning things before the results are out. They have to do what is right for their communities.”
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A total of 23 councils are up for grabs when voters go to the polls on Thursday 1 May – mostly in places that were once deemed Tory shires, until last year’s general election.
It includes 14 county councils, all but two of which have been Conservative-controlled, as well as eight unitary authorities, all but one of which are Tory.
Ms Badenoch has set expectations low for the Tories, suggesting they could lose all the councils they are contesting.
The last time this set of councils were up for election was in 2021, when the Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson who was riding high from the COVID vaccine bounce.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Image: Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Image: Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Image: Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Image: Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Image: Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
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Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
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Image: Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.