Member Article

Boris must resist rent control calls

A Welwyn Garden City property expert has called on Boris Johnson to resist calls for rent controls to be imposed in London- fearing they will have no impact in the capital and a negative impact on the Home Counties.

Members of the London Assembly recently unveiled a package of proposals aimed at reforming rented housing in London, calling for the Mayor to “bring forward an effective mechanism to stabilise rents”.

Suggested measures appear to include the capping of rent increases below inflation and minimum tenancies of at least two years.

Kevin Harris of KIS Lettings in Welwyn Garden City believes the ideas will do nothing to improve housing in the South East and may even make matters worse.

He said: “These ideas are clearly well-intentioned but the reality is they will at best do next to nothing to improve renting in London and at worst cause untold damage in places like Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield.

“One obvious problem with the proposals it that average rent rises are currently less than inflation. So capping them below inflation is completely pointless!

“The main issue driving rents up across the South East though is simple supply and demand. There just aren’t enough houses, which pushes up rents. Not only will rent controls not change that, they might make matters worse, in the Welwyn and Hatfield area in particular.

“Renters leaving London looking for lower rents will inevitably look to commutable areas like Welwyn and Hatfield – putting more pressure on the local housing stock, and possibly pushing up rents there.

“The dangers don’t end there. Not only might rent caps discourage developers from building new homes, they might even force existing homes off of the market. Most landlords only rent out one or two properties, remember, usually managing family assets as best they can. If the income from their properties isn’t enough to make ends meet as the cost of living increases they may end up cutting their loses and selling up altogether.

“Without wanting to sound at all alarmist, when we last had rent controls in this country, it was far from uncommon for unscrupulous landlords to intimidate their tenants into paying ‘side payments’. Anecdotal evidence from areas like New York where rent control are currently implemented suggest that this still goes on, and I’m sure no-one would want to see it returning to this country.

“My fear is that if you try to solve a big problem with the wrong solution you only end up making things worse – which is why the Mayor of London should resist calls for rent capping.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Hart .