Last weekend saw the government announce “a better deal for tenants”. Could it be that someone in Westminster has belatedly realised that buying a home is no longer a viable option? Because of surging house prices, job insecurity, and no access to a deposit, for many it is nigh on impossible.

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A senior Whitehall source said: “We want to help renters get more choice, a better deal and more secure tenancies.” Excellent news. But the proposed three-year minimum agreement and a vague promise to make things better by themselves won’t cut it. The entire private rental sector needs a complete rethink; for someone to turn it off and turn it back on again. Not just mere tinkering but a complete overhaul. Here’s how:

First, let’s end the worst part of renting: the crushing burden of insecurity. Tenants never know how long they can stay, usually getting by with the threat of two months’ notice. Six-month tenancies are the rule and a 12-month tenancy is increasingly rare. A minority enjoy the option to flit in and out of homes, perhaps for notions of freedom to move when responsibilities are minimal. But most of us want to be able to stay put.

It should become customary for tenancies to last for years, decades, or even an entire lifetime (unless there is severe misbehaviour on the part of tenants). Nicola Milner, a former landlady of the year I once interviewed, has never evicted a tenant for arrears; rather she negotiated a repayment plan. Tenants remained and paid off their debt. So, let it be presumed that tenants can stay for ever, and not at the mercy of letting agents who benefit financially from costs incurred in the churn of constant moving.

Next we need to reset society’s view of renting. A rented home is not a favour or a gift. Tenants are, in a sense, paying rent for a curtailed form of ownership. Finland has formalised this idea by introducing a unique form of tenancy called right-of-occupancy, an alternative to renting or buying your own home. By paying a right-of-occupancy fee – about 15% of the total price of the apartment – and a monthly charge (rent), you get the same rights to your home as if you owned it. This lasts decades, and in certain circumstances even allows tenants to alter the property’s structure.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest To let signs in Birmingham: ‘It should become customary for tenancies to last for years.’ Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

In some European countries, especially Spain, tenancies can last for generations, with grandparents renting a flat, passing the right to occupancy down to their children; possibly for ever. Of course, it does help if apartments are grand, with a lovely terrace or two (and a warmer climate to enjoy it), and is in the context of a society where renting is not second best but the norm. The advantages are obvious: from intergenerational living to the balm of stability.

We also need properly enforced rent controls. One notorious Glaswegian letting agency compels tenants to sign and agree to annual rent rises (even when inflation and interest rates are low). Rent controls would also rein in building societies that insist buy-to-let rentiers charge at least 150% of their mortgage as rent.

There exists a specious argument that rent controls cause a stagnating rental market (translation: tenants stay long-term and rents are stable). This theory encouraged John Major’s government to pass the regressive 1996 Housing Act to end long-term tenancies. But remember this: back in the 80s, a mortgage was two-and-a-half times annual incomes, not eight to 10 times as it is now. Consequently home ownership was a natural stage in life: those who could bought and those who couldn’t rented one place for ever. As is right and proper.

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It seems obvious, but tenants require the freedom, indeed the right, to treat a home as, well, a home. This means the option to adapt and customise, such as redecorating. The freedom to paint walls, and change the curtains. Banishing a life spent living as I once did in a home where the landlord had installed a mirror in a tacky gold frame then painted around it so removal left an unsightly gap.

In Germany and indeed throughout much of Europe, homes are rented entirely unfurnished, often without white goods. Despite the initial outlay, many tenants would welcome the ability to select their own appliances, no longer lumbered with chugging, energy-guzzling fridge-freezers and washing machines with spin cycles so thunderous they sound like harbingers of the apocalypse.

Let’s do this properly. Initiate the assumption that tenancies are for life and all renters will gain exponentially from increased security. Imagine a home with a pet. A permanent home that allows children to stay in one school. Imagine renters being part of established communities, better able to take part; to volunteer, even registering to vote. I wonder if that might have anything to do with the government’s announcement, or has a life of renting made me cynical?