The Greens have confirmed their controversial pledge to give local councils the power to set rent controls in their area.

Unveiling the party’s manifesto, Greens Co-Leader Carla Denyer (main picture) said there was an “unaddressed crisis” in housing.

She said the party would “provide affordable housing through our right homes, right place, right price charter”.

‘Tame the PRS’

Previously, the Greens pledged to “tame” the PRS by introducing rent controls in areas where tenants pay the most.

Denyer said the party would also stop landlords evicting tenants “overnight”, and it will scrap Section 21 ‘no fault evictions’, so tenants “don’t have their lives turned upside down on the whim of their landlords”.

And the party would set up ‘private residential tenancy boards’ to provide a forum for resolving disputes before they reach a tribunal.

“We would give local councils the power to tame the private rented sector,” she told the BBC.

“In a lot of places like Bristol, the private rented sector is out of control, and rents bear no relation to incomes anymore.

“It means that a generation of people are simply unable to save for a deposit,” she said.

Perhaps wisely the Green’s have not included any headline grabbing housebuilding targets.”

Anthony Codling, MD of Equity Research at RBC Capital Markets, says: “The clue is in the name, but the Green Party’s housing policies are focused on building green homes, funding insulation of existing homes and protecting the Green Belt.

“It also has some rather radical policies on planning, where once a local plan has been set there will be no negotiation with developers. We are not sure how this would work, but perhaps wisely the Green’s have not included any headline grabbing housebuilding targets,” he says.

Read the manifesto here