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Landlords slam Sadiq Khan’s rent control power grab

The main landlords’ trade body has hit out at a bid by London Mayor Sadiq Khan to secure powers to impose private sector rent controls.

At the moment the Mayor's post does not have control over rents levied by private landlords; Khan wants to change that.

An analysis by the National Residential Landlords Association shows that private rents have fallen every year in real terms throughout Khan’s period of office and are now nearly 10 per cent lower than five years ago when compared to the Retail Price Index.

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The NRLA says figures from the Office for National Statistics show that rents in the capital have fallen by 9.6 per cent between April 2016 (the month before Khan first came to office) and February 2021. 

Even compared to the Consumer Price Index - including housing costs, which the government has said it plans to start using - rents fell by 5.1 per cent over the same period.

The NRLA is warning that any move to control rent rises by linking them to inflation would leave tenants worse off.

In his manifesto for re-election as Mayor, Sadiq Khan calls for the power to introduce rent controls in London. This is despite a report published by HM Treasury in 2010 under the last Labour government - in which Khan was a minister - that warned of the devastating impact such a policy would have on inner city housing.

Assessing the impact of rent controls before they were abolished in 1988, the report concluded that they had been a major factor in the “decay of much of the inner city housing stock.”

 

 

NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says: “Rent controls would be a disaster for London as the last Labour government made crystal clear. They would mean tenants actually paying higher rents than leaving them to market forces.

“The story of rent controls wherever they have been introduced is that they exacerbate an already serious shortage of available homes.

“Rather than calling for things he cannot deliver, the Mayor should focus on using the powers he already has to boost the supply of available housing, including for private rent.”

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    Clearly he believes it will get him elected - and it might, as tenants may believe his propaganda & that of the militant leftwing anti LL brigade!

    Algarve  Investor

    He will be elected - that's beyond doubt. He's 25 points ahead in all the polls with less than a month to go, and that's with Bailey and co now getting media coverage.

    The Tories have all but given up already. It's very hard for a Conservative to win in a Remain city which generally votes Labour right now, but Bailey's campaign has been woeful and littered with mistakes. Even without Rory Stewart there to split the Tory vote, he has made no headwind.

    Khan is unpopular among landlords, for obvious reasons, but he is popular generally speaking.

    As I've said before, rent controls are an empty threat as he requires government approval to sign these off. Can you really see the Tory government doing that? I personally can't.

     
  • Keith  Johnson

    Inflation is about to rocket so maybe a good thing for landlords

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    • 09 April 2021 09:52 AM

    That useless and incompetent mayor will soon be gone. He won't be getting any votes from me and my friends.

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    You don't live in London do you Paul barrett or is it David crisp?

     
  • English Landlord

    Another complete and utter shambles by the Labour Party. The best that can happen is for him not be elected as Mayor. I urge Londoners to vote for Brian Rose, Independent.

    Deliver 50,000 new properties ready to move into by the end of 2021, Ensure no properties are left empty and unused, Ensure that all key workers have access to accommodation, Ensure that we increase the proportion of social and affordable housing across the capital, Ensure that no-one needs to be homeless across our capital.
    Housing First - Brian for Mayor London

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    English LL, are you taken in as well with Media hype. No shortage of housing in London so he proposes to Build another 50k homes by end of 2021 has he got his trowel ready he must be a great man. There is a glut of Housing in London so your answer is Built more. I won’t be voting for anyone as crazy as that. Sadiq is going to walk it with this nonsense going around. There is No opposition
    Shaun Bailey too far behind, now you are proposing to take even more votes from him by promoting another lame duck splitting the vote even more, too many Candidates /
    no hopers and each vote for any of those puts Khan further ahead.

  • Matthew Payne

    Rents have fallen in London in real terms by 9.6% since he was elected 5 years ago. I bet 3 million tenants can't wait to see their rents forced up by the prevailing RPI when Mr Khan implements his new policy. Feels like the Tenant Fees Act all over again, tenants screaming at the TV, "You did what on our behalf?????"

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    • 12 April 2021 08:54 AM

    Not in Twickenham and Richmond they haven't.
    About 3.8% up, per annum......As per my contracts.
    I love it.

     
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    LL’s out in the Shires take note you have had a long warning you can’t be immune and I would love to be wrong.
    Government currently building their way out of a hole to keep the economy going with Multi story Blocks of Flats whether required or not and concentration on nothing else, incl’ making existing Industrial & Commercial Units Residential. Any ideas where employment is going to come from when all this Building works stops ?, if the work was much slower & spread over many years it would be more sustainable but you simply can’t have an economy based on Housing alone.

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