Will Andy Burnham introduce rent controls as prime minister?

As Andy Burnham secures his bid to become the next prime minister, campaigners are calling on him to introduce rent controls. But is he likely to do so?

Private renters on a median income spend £39.30 for every £100 they earn in England, according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Thanks to the Renters’ Rights Act, which came into force this May, landlords can now only put up rents once a year and not in the first 12 months of a new tenancy.

But introducing further rent controls would ease the cost of living and reduce public spending, argue campaigners such as ACORN, The Renters’ Reform Coalition (RRC) and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Speculation that chancellor Rachel Reeves was considering a rent freeze was circulating back in April, but this was later ruled out by housing minister Steve Reed.

However, renters have cause to be hopeful as Burnham enters Downing Street.

Back in 2023, the former Greater Manchester mayor wrote to the government demanding a rent freeze “to help renters weather the worst of the cost of living crisis and help prevent huge numbers of renters facing homelessness“.

The open letter says that this would “immediately relieve pressure on millions of people and halt an eviction crisis that would have a devastating social impact, and cost local councils and the government millions.

Burnham’s track record on renters’ issues has energised campaigners, including the New Economics Foundation (NEF), which published a report on the benefits of rent controls in collaboration with the UCL Institution for Innovation and Public Purposes (IIPP).

According to the research, freezing rents in England in November 2022 would have saved the average renting household £2,400 a year and saved the government £2 billion in benefit spending.

Only 2.3% of landlords would have been made unprofitable, according to the data, compared with the 4.8% who were made unprofitable by interest rate and tax changes since 2021.

And while Burnham has promised “the biggest council housing programme since the post-war period”, this report suggests that this still wouldn’t address the full-scale of the problem.

“Rent controls are one of the few policies that can provide immediate relief to struggling households and provide a much needed boost to local economies, whilst saving the government billions,” said Dr Beth Stratford, a political economist for University College London (UCL).

She continued: “Combined with the right fiscal and legal framework, well-designed rent controls create a historic opportunity: a managed transfer of homes out of the insecure and unaffordable private rented sector and into home ownership or secure and permanently affordable ownership by councils, housing associations and community-led organisations.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has backed the calls, saying that failure to control rents would be an “economic disaster and moral failure”.

He said: “We have an incoming prime minister who has talked a big game about changing this country. But we’ve heard that before. 

“If Andy Burnham is serious about ending rip-off Britain, fixing our broken system and putting money back in the pockets of ordinary people – rent controls simply must be at the top of his agenda.”

Read more:

• Why renters are protesting against the housingcrisis: ‘People are neglected for profit’
• ‘My landlord doubled my rent after watching TikTok’: How to challenge unfair rent increases
• Rent controls coming to Scotland as Holyrood passes ‘ground-breaking’ housing bill

Community union ACORN and London Renters Union have also taken a stand against rising rents by storming the stage at the National Landlord Investment Show, one of the UK’s largest property investment and development conferences.

Paul Williams, national organiser for ACORN, said: “While landlords and property investors were in there talking about how to make more money from housing, renters are being pushed into poverty and out of our homes.

“We took over their stage because we need rent controls, not another year of rent hikes, and we’re going to keep making our voices heard until everyone has a safe, secure and affordable home.”

But if Burnham opted to introduce rent controls, it would mark a radical shift from Westminster’s current policy on intervening in the private rented sector.

Both recent Conservative and Labour governments have spoken out against them, arguing that they will drive down the standards of homes, reduce investment and force landlords out of the market.

A recent report from the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee also recommended ministers do not introduce rent controls.

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