5th
Oct 2017
In the last day of the Labour Conference (Wednesday 27th) Jeremy Corbyn has pledged that when in No.10 Downing Street he will give cities their own powers to introduce rent controls across their boundaries.
At the Brighton conference Jeremy Corby gave his figurehead speech as Labour's party leader in which he pledged when he becomes Prime Minister there would be “no jacking up rents.
On the subject he addressed the delegates by saying: “Rent controls exist in many cities across the world and I want our cities to have those powers too and tenants to have those protections."
He also said that “tenants are not being listened to” and the rising rent costs for tenants is “not sustainable”.
The party leader also promised to curb “exorbitant ground rents” and to wipe out gentrification projects because many regeneration schemes are responsible for a form of “social cleansing”.
Labour's general election co-ordinator Andrew Gwynne told the BBC' Daily Politics show that Corbyn's proposal for rent curbs, are already imposed in many cities across world .....“and if New York has them then London can have them”.
He said that further details will be included in a forthcoming Green Paper as rents had skyrocketed due to lack of regulation and the party had every intention of putting a stop to this.
A spokesperson for a lettings agent trade body was scathing about Labour's promise for rent controls when he said the party refused to take heed of the mistakes encountered through previous excursions in rent control.
He said: “The last time rent controls existed the private rented sector went from housing 90% of the population to just 7%. Whenever and wherever rent controls are introduced, the quantity of available housing reduces significantly, and the conditions in privately rented properties deteriorate dramatically.
“Landlords, agents, and successive governments over the last 30 years have worked hard to improve the conditions of rented properties and this is like taking two steps backwards.
“Rent control is not the answer – to bring rent costs down we need a concerted housebuilding effort to increase stock in line with ever-growing demand.”
Richard Merrick of PIMS said: "We are even hearing that Shelter has publicly criticised the pledge and that it would cause higher numbers of homelessness."
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