A Labour-led London council is asking to be allowed to introduce rent controls.
Lambeth councillors have passed a motion to lobby central government to give it powers to establish and enforce rent controls.
The council has also committed to publishing a report that would explore the idea of setting a ‘Lambeth Living Rent’, which would be updated annually.
The motion, put forward by Green councillor Becca Thackray, also said the consultation would continue with plans to introduce selective landlord licensing in Lambeth.
Thackray said: “Since 2010 the average rent has risen to three times more than the average income.
“The hardest hit are young renters, women and people from black and ethnic minority and low income backgrounds.
“Lambeth must put pressure on central Government to hand over the power to control sky-high rents. Consensus across political parties can bring rapid change.
“A cross-party campaign to ban letting fees was successful in April 2017. This too can succeed.”
It follows calls from Sadiq Khan to have power devolved to the London mayor to allow the whole of the capital to introduce rent controls.
Comments (6)
We live in scary times.
The countries homeless population is rising at an alarming rate and the actual people causing the problem have the BBC do another biased propaganda Panorama TV show to show that it’s the fault of private landlords who are demonised for ‘profiting from the nations housing crisis’
The worrying thing is that the country believes it and the politicians and Shelter pay themselves even larger salaries while the poor unfortunates are left to fend for themselves.
Very clever PR from the political machine, Scary times for the vast majority.
Controlled rents, regulated rents, fair rents all only led to a reduction of the private rented sector. Sorry Politicians haven’t a clue and never learn from their or their predecessors past mistakes.
London landlords already have abysmal yields and face this becoming worse when s24 is fully implemented. Rent controls would lead to many landlords receiving no profit, but in fact subsidising people to live in their properties. These properties could simultaneously be going down in value. Does Lambeth council really think people are going to take part in this huge forced charitable endeavour? They wouldn’t pay for others’ living expenses out of their wage packets and yet they expect others to effectively go bankrupt doing precisely that.
Ok, you have rent caps. Will Lambeth and Sadiq Khan then impose rate caps on lenders?
If they don’t and lending rates rise, which sooner or later they will, what will landlords do? Keep a buy to let that’s losing them money month after month or sell up?
Little note to Lambeth/Khan, investors have to make a return if they are to invest. Tell me how it will help hard pressed renters if there’s no rental stock because your landlords have sold up?
Of course you could always convert your lovely glass offices into flats (anyone seen Newham Council’s Offices on the waterfront by the Excel?) and move into humble offices on an industrial park somewhere?
Lots of questions there, no answers expected.
That’s it just kill the property investment market completely. These lunatics don’t invest their own money in housing and then want to determine the return investors can make. I guess it comes from a lifetime of spending other people’s money. Lambeth should provide its own housing if they don’t wish to work with the free market.
It reminds me of something that Maggie Thatcher once said: “The trouble with Socialism is that sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money”