A prominent Welsh politician says rent controls should be introduced across that country to “make landlordism less financially attractive.”

The Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru has put down a motion in a bid to get the Welsh Government to implement rent controls across that country.

The idea is already enshrined in a policy agreement between Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru.

Now Carolyn Thomas, a member of the Welsh Parliament – known as the Sennedd – has written in The National newspaper: “I have long supported rent controls and I will back any move which seeks to address the poverty caused by unreasonable rent increases.”

She continues: “in my view, rent controls are essential. They help to protect tenants from poverty by capping housing costs, and they make landlordism less financially attractive – which helps to take some of the heat off the housing market.

“Rent controls also cuts the benefit bill in the huge amount of housing benefit and Universal Credit which is handed out to landlords each week.”

Thomas is critical of how a form of rent controls have been applied in Scotland by the Scottish National Party, so she suggests any Welsh attempt should learn from what happened north of the border. 

She says there are four key lessons:

“Only a national system will work. That system may allow for regional variations in levels, but trying to establish whether some areas need controls more than others against an arbitrary standard serves only to thwart the intention of the controls;

“Bureaucratic hurdles must be minimised. Procedural hoops required to implement controls will only delay action and therefore increase costs to the taxpayer;

” Restricting the impact of controls to existing tenants simply incentivises landlords to increase turnover by refusing to renew tenancies or increasing evictions. Controls must be placed on the property, not on the contract with each tenant;

” Basing controls on the rate of inflation is a mistake – there is no meaningful link between inflation and either house prices or rent levels. Setting controls on this basis allows the largest rent hike when people can least afford it, during a time when the cost of living rises.”

And Thomas concludes in her article: “Rent controls should be designed to protect tenants first and foremost, and as a longer term aim, it should discourage landlordism.

“This will reduce the number of landlords looking to buy houses to let, increasing the number who are looking to sell.

“This will in turn deflate the housing market, allowing former tenants to buy their own homes, and the expansion of social house building will continue to ensure a home for those who do not wish to buy or who remain unable to.

“A system of rent controls should also not shy away from mandatory rent decreases where necessary. Rent controls are a sensible and necessary step for Wales to take in our fight to fix the housing system.”

The full article is much longer and you can see it here.