Another think tank has come up with proposals to scrap Section 21 eviction powers and cap rents – and it also doesn’t hold back saying what it thinks of the private rental sector in general.

In a new wide-ranging and radical report on altering fundamental parts of the British economy, the London-based Left-leaning New Economic Foundation describes the private rental sector as “the most unaffordable, and least secure tenure of housing, relied on by increasing numbers of families and older people”. 

It also says it was created ”in the interests of investors and landlords” and is in urgent need of reform. 

The NEF wants:

– the power to control rents devolved to regional authorities, as London KLabour mayor Sadiq Khan has already advocated;

– ending what it calls ”no-fault Section 21 evictions”;

– Introducing lifetime and open-ended tenancies, as is the already the case in Scotland;

– a publicly-accessible database of landlords and rents, administered by regional centres. 

The NEF says it has “developed a model of rent controls fit for the 21st century that would limit rents within and between tenancies and bring rents down to levels affordable on local incomes.”

It continues: “At the heart of this proposal for rent controls sits the setting of a desired rent level, which would be developed by new regional centres and to which rents on individual properties would be reduced in the first instance. After rents had reached the DRL, a Private Rent Index would control rents.”

You can see the full report here.