Calls for rent caps within tenancies as landmark bill returns to Commons
Campaigners are calling on the government to allow rents to be capped within tenancies as a key bill returns to the Commons.
More than 30 MPs have backed an amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill which, if passed, would restrict how much landlords can raise rents on sitting tenants by limiting percentage increases to inflation or average wage growth – whichever is lowest.
The bill, which was first proposed by the Conservatives, promises to abolish Section 21 “no-fault evictions”, the legal mechanism that allows landlords to evict tenants without providing a reason.
Section 21 notices have been identified as a key driver of homelessness by housing charities including Shelter, which says about 500 renters receive a no-fault eviction every day.
However, campaigners have expressed concern that if Section 21 notices are banned, landlords will use other means to evict tenants, including by pricing out tenants with rent hikes.
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The most recent statistics by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that English renters paid an average of £1,362 last month, while rent prices in England increased by nearly 10% in the past year.
UK rent rises were not far behind, growing 9.1% across the year, just below the record-high annual rise of 9.2% in March.
Comparisons have been drawn with other countries in Europe, including the Netherlands, where a rent increase limit of inflation or wage growth plus 1% is in place.
Although there is a measure in the bill that would ban rent increases from being written into contracts to prevent mid-tenancy hikes, critics have pointed out that landlords would still be able to raise rent once a year at the market rate.
Analysis of government figures by housing charity Shelter found England’s private renters paid an extra £473m every month on rent in 2024 – an average of £103 more per month than they were paying in 2023.
However, the government has ruled out rent controls, saying its plan to build 1.5 million more homes will bring prices down.
The amendment on restricting rent increases has been proposed by Labour MP Paula Barker, a former shadow housing minister who said the change would “help keep renters in their homes”.
It has the support of the RMT and Unison unions, as well as the Renters’ Reform Coalition, which includes major homelessness and housing charities such as Shelter and Crisis.
Ms Barker said the housing crisis needed “immediate action” and that her proposal would prevent landlords from using “unaffordable rent hikes as de facto no-fault evictions”.
“In the long term, building more social and affordable housing will help to address the emergency – but to help renters who are struggling right now, a measure to limit rent rises would stop landlords from using unaffordable rent hikes as de facto no-fault evictions,” she said.
“By preventing landlords from raising the rent for sitting tenants by more than inflation or wage growth, my amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill would help keep renters in their homes. Which is why I am urging my fellow MPs to support it.”
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Other MPs who support Ms Barker’s amendment include Green Party MP Carla Denyer, who has put forward a separate proposal that would set up an independent “living rent” body to establish rules about rent increases between tenancies by taking into account factors such as property type, condition, size and local incomes.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer speaks to the media on College Green. Pic: PA
“It’s time to end the scandal of rip-off rents,” the Bristol Central MP said.
“Right now, renters are facing a wild west when it comes to renting a home – and a lack of protection has left them at the mercy of landlords who see tenants as cash cows, not people in need of a home.
“Across Europe, rent controls are a normal part of the private rented sector. The UK is lagging behind, with dire consequences not just for renters but for the economy as a whole.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Our Renters’ Rights Bill will strengthen tenants’ rights by banning section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and while we do not have plans to introduce rent controls, we are taking action to cap rent payable at the start of a tenancy to one month, end unfair bidding wars, and give tenants stronger powers to challenge excessive rent hikes.
“This is alongside boosting supply by building 1.5 million homes as part of our plan for change.”
Business
Chancellor Rachel Reeves accused of refusing to ‘face up to her own failures’ amid market turmoil
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been accused of refusing to “face up to her own failures” by “jetting off to Beijing” during a week of market turmoil.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused the chancellor of ducking difficult questions as the “government was losing control of the economy” while Ms Reeves visited China over the past week with a delegation including the governor of the Bank of England and the heads of HSBC, Standard Chartered and Schroders.
On Monday, both long-term 30-year and 10-year government borrowing costs rose, with the 30-year effective interest rate (the gilt yield) reaching a new high of 5.47% – a rate not seen since mid-1998.
The pound also hit a 14-month low, prompting questions over the chancellor’s future.
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She received a slight reprieve on Tuesday morning as the pound recovered some loss and ticked up slightly to $1.22, while government borrowing costs dipped slightly.
But the Conservatives used Ms Reeves’s absence over the past week to attack her, with Mr Stride telling the Commons: “While the government was losing control of the economy, where was the chancellor?
“Her trip to China had not even begun when my urgent question was taken in the House last week, she was still in the country, but she sent the chief secretary rather than face up to her own failures.
“So can I ask (Rachel Reeves) why she chose not to respond herself? The chancellor, of course, ducked the difficult questions by jetting off to Beijing.
“I believe that in Labour circles, they are calling it the Peking duck.”
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng with Rachel Reeves in Beijing during her visit. Pic: AP
But Ms Reeves dismissed the criticism and vowed to stick to the fiscal rules she set out in the October budget – to get day-to-day spending through tax receipts and get debt down as a share of the economy.
“We remain committed to those fiscal rules and we will meet them at all times,” she said.
She also defended her trip to China, saying engaging with countries around the world will “deliver growth”, and said she brought up human rights issues with China.
“Leadership is not about ducking these challenges, it is about rising to them,” she told the Commons.
“And the economic headwinds that we face are a reminder that we should, indeed we must go further and faster in our plan to kickstart economic growth that plunged under the last government.”
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The chancellor said her trip to China has meant greater access to the Chinese market for British firms and helped safeguard the UK’s national security.
New agreements were made on vaccine approvals, fertiliser, whisky labelling, legal services, automotives and accountancy to “unlock £1bn of value for the UK economy”, she said.
Ms Reeves said she raised the case of imprisoned British citizen and media tycoon Jimmy Lai with every minister she met in China.
She said she also raised concerns about Russia’s war in Ukraine, human rights, restrictions on rights and freedoms in Hong Kong and the “completely unjustified sanctions against British parliamentarians”.
“A key outcome of this dialogue is that we have secured China’s commitment to improve existing channels so that we can openly discuss sensitive issues and the ways in which they impact our economy because if we do not engage with China, we cannot raise our real concerns,” she said.
“This dialogue is just one part of our engagement with trading partners right across the world.”
Google could be required to hand over data it collects to businesses as the UK competition regulator launched an investigation into the tech giant.
The Competition and Markets Agency (CMA) said it launched the inquiry to assess how Google‘s search and advertising services impact users and businesses such as advertisers, news websites, and rival search engines.
It will be looking to see if Google used its dominant market position to stop others from competing and if barriers are preventing potential rivals from entering the market.
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Of particular interest to the CMA is whether Google can “shape the development” of new AI services.
Also being assessed is whether Google is using its prime position to preference its own services, such as Google Shopping and Google Flights.
“Potential exploitative conduct” through Google’s collection and use of “large quantities of consumer data” without informed consent will be examined, as will the use of things like news articles without paying the publishers, the CMA said.
The CMA could compel Google to make collected data available to other businesses or order them to give publishers more control over how their data is used.
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Google is by far the most popular search engine in the UK, answering more than 90% of all general search queries, and hosting more than 200,000 UK advertisers.
The investigation announced on Tuesday is the first launched under the digital markets competition regime which took effect on 1 January.
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The new regime enables the CMA to designate companies with a so-called strategic market status and impose new rules on them as a result.
Effective competition among search engines could keep down the cost of search results advertising, equivalent to nearly £500 per household per year, the CMA said.
Investigations in EU and US
The UK is just the latest country to look at Google’s search engine primacy.
A federal US court ruled in August Google illegally maintained an online search monopoly.
Meanwhile, an EU investigation into Google’s parent company Alphabet is examining whether it imposed restrictions that made it difficult for developers to promote services by other companies, looking at search results for services such as Google Shopping and Google Flights.
The UK government had ordered regulators such as the CMA to come up with ideas for growth and investment amid sluggish economic growth.
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