Rent controls are at the heart of the local election manifesto of the Green Party of England and Wales.

Co-leader Carla Denyer, says: “This country faces an acute housing crisis. There are over a million households on council waiting lists. In England the average home for sale now costs more than eight times the annual average household earnings.

“We desperately need a massive increase in the supply of affordable social housing. I hear regularly from people who have been living in unacceptable conditions, crying out for a secure home or struggling to make ends meet because their rents are through the roof.”

Green policies include: 

– What it calls “taming” the private rental market through rent controls, in places where the rental market is overheated, to ensure a fair rent, as well as ending no-fault evictions;

– Ending Right to Buy, enabling local authorities to keep council homes available and affordable in the community for good;

– Creating a ‘community right to buy’, giving councils, housing associations and community housing groups first refusal to buy certain properties that come onto the market, including former social housing bought under Right to Buy; properties in need of energy efficiency improvements; or any property left empty for an unacceptably long time; and

– Providing funding to councils for affordable social housing and lift “the overly restrictive rules on council borrowing for housebuilding” – ensuring at least an extra 150,000 council homes a year are made available through a mix of new build, refurbishment, conversions and buying up existing homes.

Specifically for London the Green Party want to see a ‘Living Rent’, where median local rents would take up no more than 35% of the local median take-home pay.

It also wants rent control powers to be given to London politicians and a two-year rent freeze, plus a Rent Commission “to look at bringing down private rents.” 

Co-leader Adrian Ramsay adds: “Our Right Homes, Right Place, Right Price charter would transform the planning system to ensure all new homes are built to the highest environmental standards, prioritising brownfield sites, while requiring all new developments come with investment in local services, such as extra school and GP places, better bus services and infrastructure for walking and cycling. “