AM in call for new rent controls

LABOUR AM Jenny Rathbone has called for the reintroduction of rent controls, last seen in the UK in the 1980s.

In a Senedd debate the Cardiff Central AM said that many countries across the world have fair rent regulations.

They were abandoned in Britain by the Thatcher government in 1989, since then landlords have been able to charge what they want.

The power to regulate rents in the private sector was transferred to the Welsh Government by Parliament in 2006.

Average rents in South Wales are now £911 per month and £1,094 in Cardiff.

Ms Rathbone said “Housing is too important to the population’s health and wellbeing to be left to market forces alone.

“We cannot allow a rampant free market to condemn generation rent to expensive, low-quality housing.

“We need an end to unfair evictions, rent controls, and a radical overhaul of the housing system to deliver rent stability.”

She said rent controls were used across the world to prevent rents from rising too quickly.

But Douglas Haig, the Residential Landlords Association’s director for Wales said: “Rent controls would be bad news, not just for landlords, but for tenants.

“History has proved that they stifle investment and reduce supply, making it much more difficult for tenants to find somewhere decent to live.

“Rents in Wales increased by 1.2% in the year to March 2018 – way below inflation, which over the same period was measured at 2.3%.”