Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of applying further controls to rents in (a) York and (b) other high cost areas.

The Government does not support the introduction of rent controls. Historical evidence suggests that rent controls would discourage investment in the sector and would lead to declining property standards as a result, which would not help landlords or tenants. Recent international examples also suggest that rent controls can have an inadvertent negative impact on the supply of housing and may encourage more illegal subletting.

In the Queen’s Speech 2022, we committed to introducing a Renters Reform Bill in this parliamentary session. Through this, we will abolish ‘no fault’ evictions by removing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, providing security for tenants in the private rented sector and empowering them to challenge poor practice and unfair rent increases without fear of retaliatory eviction.

It is important to note that currently if tenants with periodic tenancies believe the level of rent increase is unfair, they can already refer the matter to the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for independent adjudication. The Tribunal will consider whether the rent increase is in line with market rent.