Greens promise ‘rogue landlord taskforce’ after big election win
The Green Party swept to victory in major London borough with the pledge to "drive compliance across the PRS".
The Green Party took control of a major London borough with the promise to set up a ‘Rogue Landlord Taskforce’.
Lewisham Council had been run by Labour for most of the last 55 years until last week’s local elections.
Huge change
A huge change saw the Greens seize 40 out of the borough’s 54 seats to win a big majority. They also picked up the Lewisham mayoralty.
Their manifesto promises to “enforce the Renters’ Rights Act” and “establish a Rogue Landlord Taskforce” to “drive compliance across the private rented sector”.
The housing crisis has reached breaking point.”
“The housing crisis has reached breaking point. Too many Lewisham residents simply cannot afford to live here, and those wanting to put down roots find themselves forced to leave the borough,” the manifesto says.
“People are trapped in the precarity of the private rental sector, where rising rents and insecure tenancies push many into homelessness.”
Rent controls
The Green Party, led by Zack Polanski, had made rent controls a central part of its national campaign, arguing caps are needed to curb rising costs.
Polanski claimed renters were “stuck in an over-inflated market where landlords can often charge what they want”, and the party has pledged to give local authorities powers to introduce caps as well as pursue a national system if in government.
He also called for mayors to be given powers to introduce rent controls, arguing renters were being squeezed by what he described as runaway rent increases.
The party even passed a motion at its annual conference calling for an “effective abolition of private landlords”.
Read the manifesto here
Oh dear. Give someone with zero intelligence a bit of power and what could possibly go wrong. If you’re a tenant in Lewisham ‘be afraid, be very afraid!’