Anti-landlord activist groups are making a last ditch bid to push Labour into rent controls. 

Media reports earlier this week said Chancellor Rachel Reeves was weighing up whether to impose a one year private sector rent freeze.

However, Housing Secretary Steve Reed apparently slapped down the Chancellor’s idea, saying it wouldn’t happen after all.

But activist groups aren’t taking no for an answer and want more extreme versions of the Chancellor’s proposal.  

Generation Rent has long called for private sector rent controls and chief executive Ben Twomey – who is quitting his post this summer – says: “When we are forced to spend too much of our income on rent, it means children are going to school hungry or older renters who can’t afford to turn the heating on. 

“Many renters are already paying more than we can afford. 

“Further rent rises due to international events way out of our control would pull even more people into poverty. 

“It’s encouraging that the government is considering a rent freeze and we urge them to press ahead and bring it in as quickly as possible to give renters the breathing space we need.”

He reckons a freeze would save the typical renter an average of £324 a year.

Meanwhile the London Renters Union – another anti-landlord body – wants rent controls that apply to the property, not the tenancy, limiting increases between and within tenancies to protect both new tenants and sitting tenants. 

The union also supports controls that are linked to the size and quality of accommodation, rather than a pure freeze or market-based cap.

A statement from the group says: “Claims by some landlords that a rent freeze would make being a landlord unprofitable don’t stack up. 

“According to the government’s English Private Landlords Survey 41% of landlords had no borrowing on any of their properties and 42% had an interest-only mortgage.”