The Green Party launched a series of high-octane verbal assaults on landlords at its conference over the weekend.
Party deputy leader Rachel Millward told the BBC that landlords were “super earners” who were likely candidates for a wealth tax.
The Daily Telegraph recently revealed that Millward earned some £5,000 a year renting out a room in her home.
Meanwhile party leader Zack Polanski told delegates: “For too long, landlords have been able to hike prices way beyond wages. Leaving renters forced to meet the cost to keep a roof over their heads, cutting back and back and back on everything else.
“That’s why today I’m calling for a three year emergency brake on private rents. No rent rises above CPI, wage growth or 2% – whichever is lower. No sudden hikes. No evictions under the guise of rent rises. No more fear and uncertainty.
“That emergency brake would give renters vital breathing space. Let wages begin to catch up with the rents that have outstripped them for too long. And give government time to develop a national Fair Rents Guarantee – to keep rents fair and affordable for everyone, for ever.”
He went on to claim that over the next year, more than a third of the money that the Department of Work and Pensions will spend on housing benefits will go to private landlords “subsidising extortionate rents.”
And Carla Denyer, Green Party MP for Bristol Central, added: “The Green Party are leading the way on ending unaffordable rents in this country. This is an issue I have pushed the government on every day that I’ve been an MP, and I have found their empty words and half-measures wanting.
“It is totally unacceptable that ordinary people are forced to limit themselves and their life chances to try to keep up with sky-high rent payments. This system is fundamentally broken, and the emergency brake would provide a much-needed reset while we work out the best long-term system of rent controls for our country.
“Successive governments have allowed ‘housing’ to trump homes, and prioritised the market over people’s wellbeing. This has to stop now.”
Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, responding to the demands for rent controls, saying :“Tenants are facing genuine affordability pressures but rent caps do not address the underlying shortage of homes or the rising costs of providing and maintaining them.
“If policymakers want to make renting more affordable in the long term, the priority must be increasing housing supply and creating the conditions for responsible investment in the private rented sector.
“Propertymark has consistently warned against rent controls because they can have unintended consequences. In Scotland, our members have reported rent increases between tenancies, stalled investment and landlords leaving the market following temporary rent caps. Evidence from rent-control schemes internationally also suggests they can reduce investment and the supply of rental homes.
“Any policy to support tenants must therefore consider both the immediate impact on renters and the longer-term need to maintain and increase the supply of homes in an already constrained market.”
