RENTAL CRISIS
Landlords are worried about rent controls. Will Labour introduce them to cap record-high rents?
By Liam Geraghty
Deputy digital editor
The right-wing think tank linked to Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget has warned against the UK government bringing in rent controls to curb sky-high private rents – and it’s caused an almighty row.
The Institute of Economic Affairs’ (IEA) research claims that rent controls do far more harm than good after publishing a review of 196 academic studies over 60 years across 100 countries.
Most studies – 56 out of 65 the group analysed – showed that rent controls succeed in lowering rents for controlled units, the IEA found. But 14 out of 17 studies found that rent control leads to higher rents in properties where rents aren’t controlled.
The group’s research came just days after the landlord lobby group the National Residential Landlord Association (NRLA) warned fear of rent controls could drive a third of landlords out of the private-rented sector.
Dr Kristian Niemietz, IEA editorial director, said: “Economists are a notoriously divided profession: ask three economists, and you get four opinions. But there are exceptions to this, and the study of rent controls is one of them.”
Pro-renter groups Acorn and Generation Rent have criticised the research, however, arguing that intervention is needed to prevent rents from soaring.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures released earlier this month revealed that average private rents in the UK increased by 8.4% in the 12 months up to September this year. That means tenants are paying £100 more every month than they
