A Labour MP is putting an amendment to the Renters Rights Bill to limit rent rises during a tenancy. 

Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, says her amendment would prevent landlords from putting the rent up for existing tenants by more than inflation or wage growth. Instead of a fixed rent level controlled by the government, a limit would be a practical measure to smooth out rent rises and reduce the social harm caused by what she calls “economic evictions.”

She defines economic evictions as being when “landlords will use unfair rent hikes in a similar way [to a Section 21 eviction] to threaten or punish renters for asserting their new rights or complaining about issues in their homes.”

Writing in The House – the House of Commons magazine – says moves to limit rent rises and bring down the cost of renting are backed by “our major unions including UNISON, the RMT, the Fire Brigades Union and the NEU” and by what she calls “leading housing organisations such as Shelter and Generation Rent.”

Her amendment attempts to rectify an element of the current Renters Reform Bill that she says will “fail”. 

In detail, she writes: “It will fail to address one of the most significant issues renters face – the high cost of renting. Rents have outpaced average wage growth for the last three years, and the Resolution Foundation predicts this could continue for another three. Abolishing no-fault evictions is a key part of this bill, but for many renters unaffordable rent hikes are, and will remain, a de facto section 21 eviction.” 

She continues: “The Renters’ Rights Bill attempts to resolve this with a rent tribunal, where renters can appeal above-market rent increases. This tribunal would not be able to recommend a higher rent increase than the landlord is proposing – an improvement on existing tribunals in England and Scotland. 

“But in practice very few renters are aware this mechanism exists, few are willing to go to such lengths to challenge a rent increase, and should large numbers of renters resort to it, it could quickly be overwhelmed.

“Moreover, a tribunal that gives renters the chance to block ‘above market’ rent increases is missing the point – average market rents are already completely unaffordable for many families and individuals on low incomes. For these renters, who are already more likely to be struggling with poor quality housing and dodgy landlords, a ‘market level’ rent increase is an economic eviction.”

The Renters Rights Bill will return to the House of Commons for its Report Stage and Third Reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday, before moving to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.