ACORN Bristol‘s ‘Ban the Bids’ campaign wins as big city letting agent pledges not to engage in ‘bidding wars.’

As reported last month, ACORN’s Bristol branch has been fighting against the practise of ‘bidding wars,’ where landlords and letting agents encourage would be renters to bid against each other over the advertised price. 

This is artificially inflating prices, forcing people to move away from their communities and exacerbating the housing crisis.

Since launching the campaign in December 2022, 22 letting agents in the city signed the pledge not to engage in the practise. However one major lettings agent, CJ Hole, ignored the call to end rental bidding wars.

So ACORN members did what they do best, and took action! On 12th June they took a minibus tour of CJ Hole’s Bristol branches, handing over our demands and plastering their windows with ‘Wanted’ posters.

At first they ignored us, then they locked us out, then after our visit to branch number 5 that day they finally agreed to all of our demands! 

This is a huge step forward for the campaign, as all major agents in the city have now promised not to engage in bidding wars, showing what can be won by taking direct action as part of our community union!