London Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan and activist group Generation Rent have issued a joint appeal for rent controls in the capital.
Khan’s office has now produced a forecast claims that “unchecked private rents in London could soar to upwards of £2,700 pcm next year.”
In a joint statement featuring Khan and Generation Rent’s chief executive Ben Twomey, the Mayor says: “These figures reveal the clearest picture yet of why rent controls are so necessary. Private renters make up nearly a third of everyone living in the capital, but they are being consistently let down by a Government that refuses to listen and take urgent action to protect them from even greater financial hardship.
“Londoners re-elected me on a manifesto pledge to push for the powers to control rents and I will not stop advocating for this lifeline on their behalf. I am delivering on my promise to build a better, fairer and more prosperous London by building more affordable homes in the capital and providing vital support to Londoners through the cost-of-living crisis. It’s about time the Government did the same.”
And Twomey - a former Labour candidate in recent Police Crime and Commissioner elections - adds: “Spiralling rents are driving families into poverty and on to the streets. That is why we support the Mayor’s call for devolved powers to take action to stabilise rents. The average London renter is already putting 40 per cent of their wages straight into their landlord's pocket, and this situation shows no sign of improving on its own.
"Controlling rents doesn’t address the lack of homes that allows landlords to charge so much on new tenancies. To tackle that we also need a big increase in the supply of social and affordable homes, and the Mayor is right to call for funding to build as much of this as possible in London. Without action, Londoners will continue to face sky-high rents which are forcing the likes of nurses and teachers out of the city and hollowing out our communities."
The figures from Khan claim that 49 per cent of children in private rented homes live in poverty.
Khan says: “If a two-year rent freeze were to be introduced renters could save £3,374 on average - with £887 saved in the first year alone and £2,487 in the second year.”
He says he wants the government “to deliver the £4.9 billion that is needed each year to build the affordable housing that is so desperately needed, and push for the powers to freeze rents to protect Londoners right now.”
In June Labour’s shadow housing secretary - Lisa Nandy - ruled out rent controls should Labour come to office in the next General Election.
She told a housing conference at the time that rent controls were merely a “sticking plaster” that risked increasing homelessness.
“When housebuilding is falling off a cliff and buy to let landlords are leaving the market, rent controls that cut rents for some, will almost certainly leave others homeless” she told the Housing 2023 gathering of industry professionals.
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Rent controls don't work
They have that in common with lefty layabouts like generation rant and that hypocritical little creep khan , Mr heres a photo opportunity quick get the bike out of my gas guzzling range rover's boot
Story in the FT shows rents in Scotland rising faster than in London after rent controls were introduced. Rent controls don't work!
But facts don’t count with these fanatics 🆘
I was offered a 33% increase on my best flat from one group who realised how many groups of students were wanting to view the flat. They also promised to give me 2 months notice instead of the statutory 28 days and said they would not be there beyond May 2025, although I can't enforce that bit.
My other Glasgow student flats have all had rents increase by about 25% and these are on top of 33% increases in 2018 when the SNP first began to attack prs landlords and tenants.
Until there are more prs rental properties than tenants landlords will still hold the whip hand but God help young families looking for affordable housing who are being crucified by these left wing nutcases.
Khan hasn’t got a clue what to do on this or anything g else. He just wakes up and uses his dreams of the night before .
It’s disgusting how they seek to limit what can be charged, but not the costs of the provider, which are bought about buy their taxes and costs for their red tape.
Sadiq Khan and Generation Rent cause harm to people all the time, not benefits to them. It is the right of the owner to set the rent not those people; the rents have nothing to do with them whatsoever. If the rents are set too high then tenants can't or won't pay, and most landlords consider that because it is prudent to do so.
Rents are high in London because the capital value of property is high. Landlords can relatively easily transfer the bulk of the capital into another investment by selling, and then get a better or similar return to the former rent on the flat or house.
We all know that rents in the capitol are extremely high, however it would appear that Labour, Shelter, Generation rent, and the likes are using London as an example of what is happening around the whole of the country, where we as landlords know that the huge rents and percentages of income are nothing like that in the rest of the country. In my area average local rent for a two bedroomed property is only £695.00 pcm. and far from being 50% of the household income it is less than 20% of the households income which in my opinion is easily affordable. It is about time that M.P.s and charity organisation's ceased trying to bring in legislation based on London and the affluent South East of England. Admittedly rents are increasing, but they are increasing because private Landlords ( me included ) are selling up and leaving the the industry in their droves due to the meddling of politicians and the uninformed ravings of the looney left wing activists.
Agree, everything is London centric.
Good comment Peter.
My rents are even lower than what you are illustrating.
Under new legislation, brought in by The Politburo here in Wales, I am limited to putting the rent up only annually.
It is costing me thousands to install mains smoke alarms and associated works in these properties and issuing new contacts which are over 40 pages long.
I fear that the next step will be to limit rent rises to a small percentage annually here in Wales.
He should stick to solving major problems like knife crime
That's too hard for Khan. However perhaps Landlords could solve problems for them and motorists with kvives.....
This hook up of ‘ leftist “ ideals is akin to the WW2 pact signed by Ribbentrop and Molotov In 1939, apart from them being a tad right wing ! These little meddlers will always keep sticking their noses in our business.
Khan wants to help people with lower incomes yet he pushes ahead with taxing the poor with his ULEZ scheme.
The rent is not going "straight into Landlords pockets". Rents are going up because mortgages are going up. Landlords in London are most likely to be 40% taxpayers affected by Section 24 so unable to claim tax relief on mortgage interest meaning rent increases have to be higher to avoid heavy losses.
One good to hear is that Labour’s shadow housing secretary - Lisa Nandy - has "ruled out rent controls" should Labour come to office in the next General Election. And said that rent controls were merely a “sticking plaster” that risked increasing homelessness.
So if we get a Labour Government, at least we shouldn't get rent controls.
Seems she understands some of the reality: “When housebuilding is falling off a cliff and buy to let landlords are leaving the market, rent controls that cut rents for some, will almost certainly leave others homeless”.
Just Khan and Generation Rant don't, along with the Scottish Govt.
Nandy will bring in plenty of other nonsense other then rent controls though. She says arrears shouldn't meant losing your home. I can hear the bottles of prosecco popping at Wetherspoons all over the country as Labour's scrounging non-rent-paying tenants rejoice up and down the country.
Apart from tenants not leaving when you want them to Labour has said that they can alter your property - that is an owner's right, not a tenant's right. Landlords are not going to hand over their properties for good.
I just wish that Lisa Nandy would say that Labour will follow Welsh Labour in its policies. They would get votes from Conservative landlords.
I'm clearing up and decorating after my Nigerians left. They have painted the living room without permission. The 'workmanship' if you can call it that is shockingly bad. I do not want to hand over my property for some idiot tenant to paint it badly and cause me to redecorate every time.
I am hiring a car in the US next month. I am going to spray paint it myself, on the outside and all over the leather on the inside. I am sure Hertz will be chuffed with that. It's my right :)
It must be a great deal of work for you Nick! It can be difficult to repaint, particularly if they have used a deep colour. You are probably making the property look beautiful though.
I had light beige walls. Looked good. But she's got some white paint and painted different ends of the wall. Got in on the ceiling. I would prefer not to repaint the ceilings so I may just paint over the small marks...
That sounds like a great idea, Nick - don't make it too hard for yourself.
I will be relieved to get rid of it at a reasonable price. I don't want to be forced to be a landlord with all this **** coming in!
You may be right Nick - and you are lucky really to be able to test the water now. You will be able to see if you can get a decent price for the house. It is much more difficult to decide what to do with tenanted properties - whether to carry on a bit longer or tell everyone to leave.
Having your house newly decorated will make it very appealing to buyers probably.
It was up for sale last year. I used an online agency where I could do the advert and photos myself. I used the few decent photos I had of it being empty. I got one a couple of flaky enquiries. I didn't bother with them.
Then it wasn't really for sale. Just insurance to override the retaliatory eviction issues. I would use a proper agent this time to sell. NEVER use and agent if I have to rent it..
I think it might be a good idea to get more than one valuation of the house. My cousin had three valuations from three different agents, and put her house on sale with the agent giving the highest valuation. It sold almost straight away. She presented her house beautifully - like something out of a magazine.
(When) Labour get in just WATCH OUT!! Think things are bad now - ten times worse with Labour in charge
Cost-of-living crisis is for everyone! The crisis is due to mismanagement of energy storage and contracting, inflation, mortgage interest rate increase. The crisis is due to lack of growth in economy, spending three years arguing about Brexit and doing no governance. Controlling rent will destroy the cycle of the property market economy for renters, investors, traders, less income for government's tax. Controlling rent will destroy the balance of not having enough competition to reflect the correct market rental value. There are lots of different price level of rent on the market. When I can not afford a Porsche, I will have a look at the Volvo. Democracy is about having choices. Controlling rent will minimise the varieties of the properties and rental price. Don't see any positives about controlling rent except for politics. We have more serious issues of coastline pollution and sewage, health and safety.
As well as altering our property we are going to be forced to have their pets pee & poo.
Do they not know 6’500’000. Pets are abandoned every year.
PRS stands for PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR. These are OUR properties. They do not belong to councils, the government, these 'business charities' or the great unwashed. They have no business imposing all of this nonsense on us.
As soon as Khan opens his mouth, I switch off. Time for Londoners to vote him out.
Let’s hope Corbyn runs and splits the vote for 💩
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