London mayor seeks rent control powers, will clamp down on sky-high leases
- Average rent for a London one-bedroom home is higher than the average for a three-bedroom home in the rest of England
- Proposal comes as capital pours into rental housing from some of the world’s biggest investors
Rent controls could be coming to London, if the city’s mayor gets his way.
Sadiq Khan wants to follow in the footsteps of Berlin and New York, in seeking to clamp down on inflation-busting rent increases, but lacks the power to impose the rules.
Instead he has published a blueprint for how the government could hand down powers that would include giving renters open-ended tenancies and the ability to bring rents down.
Cities around the world are grappling with an affordable housing crisis after a decade of loose monetary policy sent asset values soaring even as incomes stagnated.
That is leading to a raft of new policy propositions, from taxing overseas buyers to capping rents in cities from Vancouver to Sydney.
In London, the average rent for a one-bedroom home is higher than the average for a three-bedroom home in the rest of England, according to the Greater London Authority, meaning such proposals are increasingly popular.