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Khan vows to make mayoral election a ‘referendum on rent controls’
The London mayoral election in May will be a “referendum on rent controls”, said Sadiq Khan at the launch of his re-election campaign.
According to The Guardian, which reported on his campaign launch in Hackney this morning, Mr Khan said prime minister Boris Johnson will be forced to give the mayor powers to restrict rents if re-elected, as refusing to do so would be “denying the express democratic will of millions of Londoners”.
He said: “Tory Ministers have blocked us from introducing our plans for rent controls in London and have simply said no.
“They have refused to give us the powers we need to make rent controls happen.
“If Londoners re-elect me as their mayor on 7 May, I want no one to have any doubt that it represents an undeniable and irresistible mandate for the introduction of rent controls in our city.”
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If re-elected, Mr Khan said he plans to create a private rental commission, with renters on its board, to implement and oversee rent controls. A register of landlords would also be established to “name and shame” rogue landlords.
The mayor’s plans for the private rented sector were laid out in a major report published last year, which included details of how rent controls could work in practice.
However, the Greater London Authority has not yet indicated the level of rent reductions it would like to see.
Over the past decade, private rents have risen by almost a third in London, with renters spending on average 43% of their income on rent.
However, critics of rent controls argue they lead to private landlords pulling out of the sector, restricting supply and so pushing up rents anyway.
John Stewart, policy manager at the Residential Landlords Association, and Chris Norris, director of policy and practice at the National Landlords Association, said in a statement: “Rent controls might appear attractive to those already renting but they would be a disaster for anyone looking for somewhere to rent.
“All they would achieve, as history and experience elsewhere tells us, is to drive landlords out of the market – exacerbating an already serious shortage of homes available.”
