A leaked report commissioned by the Labour party into the private rented sector has recommended that rents be capped in England if the party gains power.

Lisa Nandy (main image), who until recently was its shadow housing minister, commissioned the report a year ago from the Labour leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council, Stephen Cowan (pictured).

It recommends several measures to help renters facing high rents and low availability within the rental market which he says would help them gain ‘stability’.

These include a ‘double lock’ cap on rent rises for those renewing their tenancies which would restrict rises to either the consumer price index inflation or local wage growth, whichever is lower.

Cowan also recommends that rent rises be restricted to once a year, as will be case anyway when the current Government’s Renters (Reform) Bill become law, and that tenants should be given four months’ notice of any rises.

Review clauses

He also says ‘rent review clauses’ within rental contracts should be banned, a measure also in the Bill.

Cowan says the measures are needed to protect renters from ‘soaring rents’ but would also ‘bolster security for landlords’.

But his report doesn’t go as far as some campaign groups would like, rejecting ‘rent freezes’.

Due to be published in full later this week, the report could be embarrassing for the Labour party which, The Guardian reports, although it has welcomed the proposals says they are ‘not its official view’. It is not expected to send any high-profile MPs to the launch either.

Evictions

Labour has made a series of pledges already to make renting fairer, more secure and affordable, including banning no-fault evictions, extending Awaab’s law to the private rented sector and taking action on rent bidding wars.

Nandy and Labour leader Keir Starmer have previously said they don’t back rent controls, while Labour mayors Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham have said they are necessary.

Cowan has previously said that renters deserve to know that their home is safe and of a good standard, while good landlords want rogue operators removed from the market so that there is a ‘level playing field’.