Sadiq Khan urges a rent freeze for London tenants

Sadiq Khan urges a rent freeze for London tenants

11:11 AM, 31st October 2022, About A year ago 8

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The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called for an immediate rent freeze to deal with tenants struggling in the cost-of-living crisis and growing homelessness in the capital.

He says that the numbers sleeping rough have risen by 21% over the past year and without government intervention, the progress made in housing homeless people since the pandemic would be reversed.

Speaking to the Observer newspaper, Mr Khan says there needs to be an immediate freeze on private sector rents and more resources are needed for local councils to support people sleeping on the streets.

Benefit cap should be lifted

He also says that housing benefits should be unfrozen in the benefit cap should be lifted.

Mr Khan told the newspaper: “Our outreach workers, charity teams, healthcare professionals and council staff are not only vital partners in this work but unsung heroes.

“Despite this progress, extraordinary financial pressures are putting the poorest Londoners at growing risk of homelessness with the number of people sleeping rough already up by a fifth year on year.

“We continue to see a revolving door of people ending up homeless as a result of this escalating cost of living crisis. This cannot be allowed to continue.

“This new government must act now to prevent the circumstances that lead to people sleeping rough before thousands more are forced to face a winter on the streets.”

Freeze rent rises in London

This is the second time in two weeks that Mr Khan has urged the government to allow him to freeze rent rises in London where he says the cost-of-living crisis is seeing growing numbers of families struggle.

He says that families would save, on average, £3,000 over the next two years if rent controls were instigated in the capital.

The mayor told BBC London News: “We’ve got to freeze rents. If we froze rents in London over the next two years, families would save about £3,000 over the course of the next two years.

“Now I’m asking the government to give us the powers to have rent controls in London.”

‘Incomes squeezed as the cost-of-living crisis worsens’

Later, on Twitter, Mr Khan said: “London’s 2.6 million private renters are seeing bills soar and their incomes squeezed as the cost-of-living crisis worsens.

“That’s why I’m asking the Govt to give me the power to freeze rents for two years & support building even more genuinely affordable homes.”


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Comments

Ray Smith

11:57 AM, 31st October 2022, About A year ago

how exactly does Mr Khan think a rent freeze will help street sleepers ? . these unfortunate people would not be able to pay rent at any level ? strange thinking .

Seething Landlord

12:41 PM, 31st October 2022, About A year ago

The mayor told BBC London News: “We’ve got to freeze rents. If we froze rents in London over the next two years, families would save about £3,000 over the course of the next two years.

He forgot to add that landlords would lose about £3,000 over the course of the next two years, assuming that they were prepared to continue letting their property at a loss, rather than selling.

Borrieboy

13:05 PM, 31st October 2022, About A year ago

Socialist mayor expects private property rental owners to foot the bill for private renters who can't/won't pay. So now friends, you are expected to become a charity but without the financial benefits of actually being a registered charity. And the clown Khant thinks it'll work in London whereas in other European capitals, it's proved to be disastrous for renters.

Tim Rogers

16:51 PM, 31st October 2022, About A year ago

For a highly educated and legally trained person, you do have to wonder.

Why are people on the streets, among many reasons, the one that has significantly changed is the availability of rental stock. Why? Well could it have something to do with the mass exodus of PRS landlords sick to death of being singled out for both criticism and punitive measures?

What does he think is going to happen if he rent caps in London? Even more will exit the PRS, exasperating the very problem he's using as an excuse to further his looney tune policies.

Mike

17:48 PM, 31st October 2022, About A year ago

Mr Mayor should start off with lowering the insane £15.00 Congestion charge and remove the £12.50 daily ULEZ charges altogether and stop dreaming of expanding the ULEZ zone for a good start. That will save many residents in London some money as the cost of living hits us all from all sides.

As many businesses still need to use perfectly drivable diesel and petrol vans and trucks, so please start helping us all first then you can then dictate landlords how much rent to charge.

peter lassman

18:11 PM, 31st October 2022, About A year ago

I think Sadie Khan is a Player trying to win Points from anyone he can, jumps on any Band Wagon he can to gain Votes, How about if he took a Pay Cut or lowered his Expenses as a mayor to help the Homeless, I don’t know about Freezing Rents but I do think he needs to be put in Deep Freeze for a very long time to give him time to think and understand the problems Landlords are facing with ever increasing obstacles being put in our way, such as Mortgage Rises, Tax increases & Mtg Interest Allowances being taken away to name a few, he will not be getting my vote just the Boot, Peter

geester24

21:10 PM, 31st October 2022, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 31/10/2022 - 17:48
Rent freeze headlines also encourage landlords to get their possible rent increase notices in quickly.

I have to disagree as the Ulez has actually made a big difference in air quality in London;
Study suggests London's ULEZ contributed to emissions cuts as other cities prepare CAZ launches. New research looking at London traffic trends for 2021 shows that CO2 emissions from traffic were cut by 5%, while particulate matter (PM) emissions fell by 40% and NOx emissions were reduced by almost 54%.

david porter

16:52 PM, 1st November 2022, About A year ago

If you dont like my policies I have other ones
Groucho Marx

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