Burnham wants councils to impose private rent control...

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07 August 2015

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Burnham wants councils to impose private rent controls

Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham is the latest to say he would consider rent controls in the private sector if he came to office.

Burnham - currently shadow health secretary and a one-time advocate of the mansion tax before disowning it after the general election - says in his manifesto for the leadership poll that his vision is for a country where “everyone has an affordable home to rent or to own – through the most ambitious housing policy since the post-war period.”

He says he will develop a Rent To Own policy involving mortgages that do not require a deposit; although his manifesto does not give further details, it shares the name with a Liberal Democrat policy recently unveiled in Wales.

He also advocates a National Housing Commission “to drive progress in every area, ensuring new homes are built with affordable rents.”

In line with Jeremy Corbyn, he wants greater power for local authorities to “crack down on absent landlords who receive Housing Benefit but allow their property to fall below an acceptable standard, blighting the lives of their tenants and the wider neighbourhood.”

Finally, he says he wants to “devolve real power to local communities to regulate the private rented sector, including the power to introduce rent controls.”