Rent controls are vital to ease housing crisis

FURTHER to your article about the Mayor’s recent call for rent controls to be implemented in London, and the commentary of your City Editor Jim Armitage [“Khan is right about the problem but has the wrong solution”, July 19], I think it is wholly unsurprising that landlords and investors are against Sadiq Khan’s proposals.

They also opposed plans to abolish the extortionate fees charged by lettings agencies and to abolish “no-fault” evictions under Section 21 of the Housing Act. It is disappointing to read that Mr Armitage and the Conservative mayoral candidate, Shaun Bailey, appear to side with them. Unless the largest programme of social housing construction since World War II is instigated, which is highly unlikely, there will never be a sufficient quantity of low-rent, secure-tenured accommodation to meet London’s demand. Rent controls, security of tenure and housebuilding must proceed in tandem and be given the highest priority.

Keeley-Jasmine Cavendish particularly in London it’s expensive. But that’s no reason to rush into rent controls. More likely, landlords will pull out of the sector altogether, pushing up rents still higher as the supply of homes slows or falls. Landlords may also cut investment in their properties, which is also bad news for the tenants who have to live in them.

Building more homes — and reform of the planning system to do it quicker — is surely the best way to bring down rents in the longer term.

Russell