Rent Control: Evidential Basis

19. What the evidential basis is for his Department’s policy on rent control.

The Government do not support the introduction of rent controls, which we believe could make life more difficult for renters. There is sufficient international evidence from countries such as Sweden and Germany, and from individual cities such as San Francisco, as well as the recent Scottish experience, to attest to the potential detrimental impacts of rent controls on tenants.

There is an injection of housing investment in some parts of my constituency, but sadly it is by landlords who are taking advantage of low house prices to turn family homes and whole terraces into houses in multiple occupation, charging sky-high rents for people to live in single bedrooms, undermining the local community. The Minister has told me a few times that the Government are opposed to rent controls, but will he look again at the evidence and start to consult? It is clear that we need to see rents come down in this country, especially in the most deprived areas.

I can assure my hon. Friend that I have looked at a wealth of evidence, particularly international evidence, of what the impact of first and second-generation rent controls are, as well as more subtle forms of rent control, which can have differential impacts on different groups. Such controls typically benefit settled and better-off tenants more than those looking for a home or needing to move. While I appreciate that a broad spectrum of regulation falls under the title, there is enough international evidence, in the Government’s view, to attest to the potential detrimental impacts of rent controls, and our position remains that we will not introduce them.