Tenant groups demand rent caps as Labour faces pressure to tackle affordability crisis

Tenant activist groups and trade unions are demanding the Labour government “devolve power to Metro Mayors and regional authorities to introduce rent caps”.

In a letter to Angela Rayner, groups including Generation Rent and the London Renters Union claim “landlords and letting agents have used the cost-of-living crisis to push up rents”.

The group says rent controls are “highly effective at keeping rents affordable”. However, rent controls in Scotland have proved to be a disaster with Scottish renters facing the steepest annual rent growth across the UK, with an increase of 11.6%.

Millions of renters in ongoing poverty

The letter praises the government’s Renters’ Rights Bill and the government’s commitment to ban Section 21 immediately.

However, the group which also includes ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan, says the Bill “does not tackle the root causes of unaffordable rents”.

The group claim two out of five landlords do not have a mortgage and two-thirds of these mortgage-free landlords increased rent during 2023.

In the letter, the group said: “Across Europe, rent controls are commonly used to ensure security of tenure and to stop people being evicted by a rent rise.”

The group is calling on the government to devolve power to Metro Mayors and regional authorities to introduce rent caps which they claim would “reduce rent levels safely over time”.

The letter claims if the government does not act: “the affordability crisis would condemn millions of renters to ongoing poverty and the constant fear of eviction.”

Rent controls restrict housing supply

The group is also urging the government to “invest in a mass expansion of public housing” and give councils enough recourse to “buy up homes that private landlords want to sell and convert them into social housing”.

In response to the letter, the government told The Guardian that rent controls do more harm than good.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told The Guardian: “Rent controls restrict housing supply and evidence shows they result in an increase in rental prices, which would not benefit tenants.

“Our bill takes practical steps to help renters by ending bidding wars and empowering tenants to tackle unreasonable rent hikes.”