We now know the second line on Labour’s 2015 pledge card: long-term tenancies and stable rents for private sector housing tenants will follow Ed Miliband’s pledge to freeze energy prices. This is a bold policy offer that will resonate powerfully with nine million people in private sector housing. Effective regulation of private sector housing could be a powerful message on the doorstep in London and the south of England where the pressures on the housing market are most acute.
Ed Miliband is right to commit the next Labour government to tackle the Russian roulette of the private sector housing market. The average cost of rents has risen by 13 per cent since 2010 and the cost of renting can make up to 41 per cent of a household’s gross income.
Frequent rent rises causes financial hardship, anxiety and distress to millions of young people and families. Over two million children live in private rented housing. Their families are often forced to move at short notice or face even higher rent payments, disrupting their schooling and community ties.
Under Labour, private sector tenants will be able to stay in their home for three years and rent rises will be limited by inflation or by average rent rises in a given area. They will no longer have to pay letting agency fees, which will become the responsibility of the landlord.
There will be opposition to Labour’s proposals for greater regulation of private sector housing, but responsible landlords will not be the people complaining. They prefer tenants who they can trust to pay their rent on time and look after the fabric of their property. Frequent changes of tenant can be time consuming to manage, particularly for landlords who own one or two properties and manage them themselves.
Labour needs to be bold and confident in selling this policy on the doorstep. A future Labour government will be controlling rents. We would prefer to talk about regulation rather than rent control, but we should not fudge the issue when commentators and our political opponents challenge us. Labour will be intervening in a market that no longer works for ordinary people, the people that the Labour party was founded to represent. The Labour party was not created to defend the interests of unscrupulous landlords who are exploiting people.
Greater regulation of rents will limit further growth in the housing benefit bill. It is right that in seeking to reduce the cost of housing benefit to the taxpayer, payments to landlords are controlled. Under the coalition government only tenants affected by universal credit felt the painful cost of readjustment.
The next step for Emma Reynolds, shadow housing minister, is to work out how this policy will be delivered, so the policy can be quickly implemented in government. Local authorities already have responsibilities for licensing private landlords and inspecting their properties, so they are the obvious organisation to take on additional responsibilities. Discussions need to start now with the Local Government Association and Labour councillors with responsibility for housing.
Labour now has two clear policy pledges to address the cost of living crisis facing the British people on energy prices and private rented housing. Ed Miliband’s next task is to produce clear and compelling policy commitments on jobs, social care and young people.
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Sally Prentice is cabinet member for culture and leisure in Lambeth. She tweets @SallyPrentice
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Photo: Dom Atreides
(God forbid the following scenario) but imagine the clock was ticking down to Armageddon in 5 years’ time — the Sun explodes wiping out our Solar system in a 10 second megablast, or something similar.
What would we do in the last 5 years? Build houses? Well, if we did, they would have to be put up pretty darn quick, certainly units would have to be built with the speed they were built just after the 2nd world war – those prefabricated nissen-type huts — some of which are still in use just up the road from me. Then what happens in this make-believe scenario is that Dawkins et al his boffin scientist mates find out that they got their sums wrong and the Sun was okay for at least another billion years.
Those nissen-type prefab’ huts would still be usable and practical for years’ to come.
If Govt, any Govt, wanted to, and we were under pressure, its amazing what us humans can do in an emergency.
What’s stopping us? Greed. The housing ‘crisis’ is only delayed due to greedy developers — and even greedier bankers. Mr Ed Miliband has the right and election winning initiative here — one of many I hope.
PS Those needing the homes can help build them saving on labour costs which are probably 55% of build costs in-toto?
At last some common sense. I welcome this very noble and brave move indeed.
I have always stated that since the move to short term tenancy agreements, this was a deeply wrong move as people and those with children need stability and security. But we need to also focus on those that are in poverty and unwaged that have to use their JSA to top up the shortfall in private rents due to the fact of councils introducing housing benefit caps. In 1995 as part of Church Action On Poverty and the churches enquiry into unemployment, I stated that councils already had a voluntary cap in the private sector and now we see in affect a second cap imposed by this government.
Some local councils have implemented a policy of freezing your housing award for the year as Adur Council has, even if your rent also goes up and you are on JSA after the process of that housing award during the year, even if it is below or matches the local housing cap .
Although they have a discretionary award process in place, as central government has given them money for this, Adur even still refuse to offer a discretionary award for those on JSA. For example; A person on JSA receiving £71 a week having to top up the monthly rent of £650 for a one bedroom flat of £50 per month, when the rent went up as it does yearly up by £20 on signing a new contract, This council refused a claim for a discretionary award of £20 so now the person on JSA has to pay now £70 of their JSA a rise of £20 per month. This is the cheapest housing in the local area. Another affect is the payment structure via payment of lunar month and most private landlords wish for month date to date.
This person then has to think, pay the difference so he can stay in contact with young son and fall behind on the £60 month energy and water bills already negotiated at a lower rate from £40 per month on the water charge and then left very little for food to live on, so he now considers going to the local food bank to survive and seek work with his degree and years of experience.
But what this also leads to is social engineering towards social cleansing of those in poverty and unwaged in rental accommodation and people being forced to move to leave families and children behind in places they have lived for many years and laid diawn family roots. One need more to live on and labour have a duty to improve these harsh and inhuman victorian polices on those who wish for a better life and are being blamed for societies failures. Billions of pounds enter London everyday.
Our opponents are already pointing out that landlords (like the energy companies) can simply put prices up before next May if it looks like a Labour government is on the cards. What’s our response to that?
Landlords generally already set their prices as high as the market will bear so they can’t arbitrarily set them any higher or they will end up with empty properties. But if Labour is serious about bringing down the cost of living this policy must also be accompanied with a significant increase in housing supply to ease the pressure which pushes the market rate of rent up in the first place