Londoners have backed rent controls after a City Hall politician declared the capital was facing a ‘cost of rent crisis’—with the city’s over two million renters handing over on average over 40 per cent of their wages to landlords. A report published by Green Assembly member Zoë Garbett on Friday called on Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to set up a commission to examine how rent controls could operate in the capital.
She said: “We need to break this cycle of unaffordability, and get a grip of the private rental market before even more Londoners can no longer afford to live in their own city. The evidence is clear: while there’s no guarantee more private housebuilding will limit or drive down the price of renting, there is a guarantee a rent control will.”. Patrick Dunne, 26, who rents a flatshare with two others in Kennington, Lambeth said restrictions on rent increases would bring him ‘peace and security’. He said: “We started paying £540 per month each four years ago. We now pay £780 each. That’s almost a 40 per cent increase. My wage had not risen by that amount. It’s not even close to keeping up with it.
“You don’t have [the] security of knowing where we are going to be long term. Every 12 months your living situation is at risk. If the rent increase is too high, you have to move out and enter a market that’s full of extortionately priced crappy properties. It’s hard to build a life or have a family. It’s really depressing when you think about it.”. Another renter, who described herself as living in a ‘mouldy’ two-bed property in Bromley with her partner and another housemate, said rent controls couldn’t come soon enough. She said: “Rent controls are absolutely essential. As it stands, I definitely don’t see myself in London long term. I can’t save with so much money going towards rent.
“Currently we pay £525 each but my other housemate is about to move out and the rent will soon just be between the two of us so it will work out at over £750 per month each. That’s 47 per cent of my income and I wouldn’t consider my house fit to live in.”. Sadiq Khan currently lacks powers from central government to impose rent controls in the private rented sector. In 2019, he published a report in which he expressed support for rent controls and said he would seek to establish a commission to design what an effective system of rent control could look like.
But six years later the commission has yet to be brought into being. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer’s government has so far ruled out giving Khan the power to impose rent controls. A spokesperson for Sadiq Khan said: “The Mayor is concerned about the impact of unaffordable private rents and is determined to do everything in his power to make housing more affordable for London’s 2.6 million private renters.
