Londoners will go to the polls next Thursday to decide on a new Mayor of London.

Whoever replaces Boris Johnson could have an influence on the way London agents run your business.

All candidates agree 50,000 extra homes are needed each year, but there are some policy differences when it comes to regulation in the lettings sector.

We round up some of the key housing policies from the main candidates as Londoners ponder how they will cast their vote.

Zac Goldsmith: Conservatives

Zac Goldsmith has promised more support for smaller housebuilders by giving them first refusal over smaller public sector sites.

He wants to free up brownfield land, particularly disused TFL and public sector sites and give Londoners the first chance to buy new homes built in London.

Goldsmith says he will guarantee homes built on TfL land are ringfenced for Londoners and only sold to people who have lived and worked in London for at least three years.

He is also touting a ‘Mayor’s Mortgage’ for first-time buyers that would hold offers for nine months, rather than the traditional six, for those purchasing off-plan properties.

In the lettings sector, he has vowed to strengthen Boris Johnson’s London Rental Standard, an existing voluntary scheme to drive up standards in the industry by making it mandatory.

All landlords would have to offer three to five year tenancies, with any rent increases after each year agreed upon at the start of the contract, to provide certainty for tenants – unless the landlord wishes to move in, sell the property or has a bad experience with the tenant.

In a possible threat to lettings agents, Goldsmith has also given backing to develop apps similar to Cozy.co and Zumper in the US. These would allow tenants and landlords to connect, providing background checks, references, rating schemes and independent payment facilities.

Sadiq Khan: Labour

Sadiq Khan has pledged more support for home building as well as putting pressure on developers to complete projects

He has promised homes for first-time buyers who have been renting in London for more than five years to ‘part-buy part-rent’ on mayoral and other public land.

For those renting, he wants to create a London-wide not-for-profit lettings agency for good landlords landlord licensing schemes and name and shame rogue landlords and ensure tenants have access to this information online.

Sian Berry: Green Party

A Green mayor would see the creation of a not-for-profit housing company to help Londoners take the lead on building affordable homes and regenerating our estates.

Sian Berry wants to put planning and development in the hands of resident groups.

Residents will have a ‘Right to Regenerate’, giving them the chance to take control of regeneration in their area by developing their own neighbourhood plan and establishing a community-led company to realise their plans.

She wants to create a London Renters Union that would give the Mayor power to bring in rent controls and support legal action against landlords where necessary.

Berry also wants to setup a Londonwide landlord register and campaign for mandatory licensing. As well as a blacklist of rogues.

Other ideas include creating an anonymous hotline for renters to report discrimination

Caroline Pidgeon: Liberal Democrats

If elected, Caroline wants to create a living rent standard that would see Londoners paying no more than one-third of their take-home pay on rent costs.

She wants half of housing in new developments to be affordable for the majority of Londoners and to give local community groups the right to bid for public sector land or buildings left unused or unoccupied for more than two years.

Pidgeon would setup a central unit to prosecute rogue landlords and renew the Mayor’s kite mark for responsible renting in the private sector, encouraging good landlords and their agents to register on a new web portal.

She also wants to encourage landlords to offer longer minimum, at least two year, tenancies, and introduce a ‘right to buy’ scheme for tenants when their private landlord is planning to sell up, giving them first refusal.

Peter Whittle: UKIP

The UKIP manifesto rests on helping the housing crisis by clamping down on demand through limits on immigration.

Whittle says he will campaign to prevent foreign nationals from obtaining access to social housing until they have lived in London and paid UK Tax and National Insurance for a minimum of five years.

He will lobby government to prevent non-British nationals from accessing Right to Buy and Help to Buy schemes.

Whittle is against landlord registration and rent caps, and says the only way to help with supply is by tackling immigration.