Sadiq Khan wants a rent freeze to give renters ‘badly needed respite’

Sadiq Khan has renewed his call for a rent freeze in London just days before the government is due to announce reforms to give tenants more powers to fight rent increases.

In a speech delivered on Monday, the London mayor said he had surpassed his target of 116,000 genuinely affordable homes in the English capital since 2015 – but warned Londoners that the “housing crisis will take time to fix”.

Record-high rents are a symptom of the housing crisis and Khan has urged the government to allow him to freeze rents in London, which have risen almost 5 per cent on average in the last year according to the Office for National Statistics. The statistics body also found 50 per cent of renters received a rent increase in the year up to February.

The government is expected to publish its long-awaited Renters Reform Bill this week with housing secretary Michael Gove promising the legislation will mean tenants will be “better protected against arbitrary rent increases”. However, the Conservative party has repeatedly rejected calls for a rent freeze, warning that controls damage supply, standards and investment in the private-rented sector.

“We’re choosing to take the side of renters by demanding the government introduce a rent freeze,” said Khan. “We’re choosing to reject the notion that housing is an asset, rather than a basic necessity. And we’re choosing to crackdown on dodgy landlords, stand up for working Londoners and get tough with developers.

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“Of course, we still have a long way to go [in solving the housing crisis]. I’m not complacent. Even though we’re breaking records, I know not all Londoners will see or feel this progress yet.  

“The fact demand for housing outstrips supply is why I’ll continue fighting the corner of renters – putting pressure on the government not only to improve renters’ rights, but to give me the powers to introduce a rent control system for London that would allow me to freeze rents and give renters badly needed respite.”

It’s the second time in two weeks that Khan has claimed to smash his own targets on house-building in London. At the start of May, the London Mayor said City Hall had funded 10,000 new council house starts in the last year, claiming that was more than double the rest of England combined.

Now Khan said the Mayor’s affordable homes programme has delivered 116,000 genuinely affordable homes in the last eight years with construction started on 25,658 properties last year, up from 18,840 in 2021/22.

The Westminster government has its own affordable homes programme which is promising to invest £11.5bn in building 180,000 new homes in England. A total of £4bn of that funding will be spent in London.

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However, while Khan has hailed his own house-building efforts, he also admitted there is no sign of London’s housing crisis coming to an end any time soon.

Research by City Hall and Savills published in December found that London needs £4.9bn a year between 2023-24 and 2027-28 to deliver the 130,000 affordable homes needed to combat sky-high house prices and rents.

Khan said: “I’ve always been honest with Londoners – that the housing crisis was decades in the making and it will take time to fix. It will be a marathon, not a sprint. But, thanks to the exercise of concerted political will, we’re moving in the right direction.”

Geeta Nanda, chair of housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing and the G15, a group of London’s biggest housing associations, added: “Tackling the housing crisis London faces is an absolute priority for G15 housing associations.

“To meet this challenge, we urgently need a credible and well-resourced plan for affordable housing in London and across the country. This will take partnerships across the housing sector, and between different tiers of government, to deliver.”

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