Oct

Sadiq Khan reveals more details of London ‘rent freeze’ on BBC

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London mayor Sadiq Khan says families would save about £3,000 during the next two years if he was given the power to freeze rents in the capital.

“We are asking government to give us the powers to have rent controls,” he told BBC London news. “We need to set up a commission in London, including landlords and tenants, to have a system that works for London. If it’s good enough for Paris and Vienna, why isn’t it good enough for London?”

Khan said in the long-term, London had to increase the supply of homes long term that were genuinely affordable. “For decades we’ve not built the homes we need. We need 50,000 new homes a year in London – we’ve increased the number of homes from 25,000 to 35,000-40,000 but there’s still a gap.

“Until we have enough affordable homes, we need to control the rent levels. The market isn’t working and families are being priced out of London,” he added.

“Landlords are increasing rent at the end of a tenancy and rents will go up by £3,000 over the next two years. The government needs to give us support to build more affordable homes but in the short term, freeze rents.”

Khan dodged the question about the risk of landlords leaving the sector as a result of bringing in any controls, however later in the programme Landlord Action’s Paul Shamplina (pictured) explained: “Over the last five years, every year we’ve been losing 85,000 properties in London alone.

“A lot of landlords are exiting the market, so there’s fewer rental properties – mainly because of more regulation and taxation, and a lot of landlords are quite fed up.”

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