Property News · June 3, 2016

How will Sadiq Khan help London's private renters?


The capital’s new mayor is starting to flesh out some of his manifesto pledges in a key area of housing policySadiq Khan’s approach to winning his famous London mayor election victory suggested he doesn’t fight battles he cannot win. The same principle seems to inform his policies for improving the capital’s private rented housing sector, where increasing numbers of Londoners reside at high and often punishing expense. On Tuesday, Khan visited private renters in Hackney at risk of eviction and said he is “determined to get a grip on the private rented sector”. What does he have – and not have – in mind?At mayor’s question time (MQT) last week he spelled out in simple words one thing he won’t be doing: “I have no plans to introduce rent controls or the powers to do so.” It doesn’t follow that he wouldn’t like to have such powers. Some of his closest advisers are keen on the idea. Khan himself argued in 2013 for indexed rent rises to be introduced by incentivising landlords and, if necessary, conferring a right to them on tenants, to be enforced at local level. “In London, we would explore if this meant the mayor or local authorities,” he wrote. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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