London’s Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has revived his long-standing — and so far failing — push for the power to introduce rent controls in the capital’s private rented sector.

Khan told the London Assembly that he will now write to Housing Secretary Steve Reed to press the case once again. Earlier efforts, including appeals to former housing secretary Angela Rayner and to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, have not yielded any progress.

The renewed commitment came during a debate in which Green Party Assembly Member Zoë Garbett, a vocal supporter of rent controls, urged Khan to relaunch his campaign and consider backing activist groups that share her stance.

Garbett says: She says: “Londoners are paying through the nose on rent, keeping a roof over our heads is gobbling up more than 40 per cent of wages and prices keep rising – renters need more support, it’s that simple. Rent controls should be at the top of the agenda and I’m pleased the Mayor will now take this urgent issue to Government today.

“While funding has been made available to some great organisations the missing piece of the puzzle is supporting renters unions – these are often member-funded, grassroots organisations doing frontline work for people being crushed by the private renter sector.

“The Mayor made important commitments to London renters – I will continue to hold him to them.”