Rent controls might appear attractive but they would be a disaster

Rent controls might appear attractive but they would be a disaster

8:35 AM, 3rd March 2020, About 4 years ago 2

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The Residential Landlords Association and the National Landlords Association is warning rent controls in London would be a disaster for aspiring tenants as the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, puts calls to introduce them at the heart of his re-election bid.

Khan’s proposals come despite experts reporting the danger rent controls would cause at a time when the demand for private rented homes in the capital is outstripping supply. Research by Knight Frank has shown that last year in the capital there were 6.1 prospective tenants for every rental listing, up from 4.7 in 2018.

The Centre for Cities has warned that strict rent control “would close off London to new residents” and the Resolution Foundation commented that holding down the true market price of private housing via rent controls rather than increasing housing supply is unlikely to succeed.

Professor Kath Scanlon, a housing expert at the London School of Economics last year warned that the Mayor’s rent control proposals would result in landlords simply deciding that they were no longer going to rent their properties.

John Stewart, Policy Manager for the Residential Landlords Association, and Chris Norris, Policy Director for the National Landlords Association, said:

“Rent controls might appear attractive to those already renting but they would be a disaster for anyone looking for somewhere to rent. All they would achieve, as history and experience elsewhere tells us, is to drive landlords out of the market exacerbating an already serious shortage of homes available. Instead of putting out simplistic and superficially appealing proposals in attempt to win votes, the Mayor should focus on boosting the supply of available housing using the powers he already has. Only then will he make any discernible impact on improving the affordability of housing across the capital.”


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Comments

Frederick Morrow-Ahmed

10:16 AM, 3rd March 2020, About 4 years ago

Vote Shaun Bailey, the Conservative mayoral candidate. The present mayor has been a dead loss. He has no powers to impose rent controls but has failed abysmally in those areas where he does have powers.

Darren Peters

10:50 AM, 5th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Mr Khan talked up rent controls in his last mayoral campaign but he doesn't have the power. It's just electioneering. He might have been naive last time, this time he has no excuse.

Before power
"I'm going to give everyone magical unicorns if I come to power"

After power
"It's not my fault, central govt won't grant me a unicorn licence and won't give me the money to feed the unicorns. Blame Boris for the lack of magical unicorns!"

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