Rent controls must be used to cut welfare spending and ease cost-of-living pressures for millions of tenants, a Labour MP has suggested.

Writing for LabourList, Margaret Mullane (pictured), MP for Dagenham and Rainham, says: “Given the focus that exists on curbing welfare spending as well as seeking ways to ease the cost of living, now is the time to look again at rent controls.”

Collapsing councils

She adds: “High private sector rents are also having a massive impact on the nation’s welfare budget and driving so many councils to the brink of collapse.”

“The Housing Benefit bill has ballooned to well over £30billion a year, with the majority of this going to private landlords. In addition to this sum, a further £3billion is paid by local authorities on top of the Housing Benefit payments.”

Mullane rejects claims that rent controls would trigger a landlord sell-off.

The theory that it would result in the mass sale of property, flooding the market and leading to a crash in house prices – I think this is short-termism.”

She says: “While I understand the arguments against rent controls – one being the theory that it would result in the mass sale of property, flooding the market and leading to a crash in house prices – I think this is short-termism.”

Citing the ‘success’ of rent control systems in France, Germany and Ireland, Mullane argues: “I believe a similar model could be trialled in the UK at a local authority level in areas with significant social and economic pressures.”

She concedes, however, that rent controls alone would not solve the housing crisis and that a major increase in the supply of social rented homes must form part of any long-term solution.