Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has received representations from the (a) Mayor of London and (b) combined authority mayors on rent controls since July 2024.

The government has been clear it does not support the introduction of rent controls, including rent stabilisation measures.

We believe they could make life more difficult for private renters, both in terms of incentivising landlords to increase rents routinely up to a cap where they might otherwise not have done, and in pushing many landlords out of the market, thereby making it even harder for renters to find a home they can afford.

The government has not received direct representations from the Mayor of London or Mayors of other Strategic Authorities in respect of rent controls, and we have not discussed their introduction at a local level.