A roadside bedroom was set up by campaigners for a ‘living rent’.

The Living Rent Campaign and Generation Rent set up a make-shift bedroom in North Street, Brighton to highlight increasing rents and reduced quality of life for tenants.

Protestors sat in the pavement bedroom on Sunday brandishing placards with slogans ‘our future?’ and ‘time for a living rent’.

David Gibson, campaign co-ordinator, said: “Ever since de-regulation and the introduction of six month tenancies, conditions for private tenants have gone downhill badly.

“One member of our group has paid nearly £200,000 in rent for a house that cost her landlord £28,000 to buy, has been condemned by environmental health and is now facing court for eviction on the day her daughter starts secondary school.”

Campaigners are calling for rent controls so people can afford longer and more secure tenancies.

Mr Gibson said that in two hours 175 people signed their petition.