Corbyn defends rent caps and property MOTs after savaging by landlords

Jeremy Corbyn has made the unusual step of personally defending two of his party’s most radical housing policies – rent caps and an annual ‘MOT’ for rented properties backed up by a fine of up to £100,000 for non-compliance. The policies are contained within Labour’s election manifesto launched late last week. They were immediately savaged by landlords including the Residential Landlords Association, which said both policies would ‘close down the private rented market’. An RLA statement said that Labour’s plans for rent controls linked to inflation are ‘nonsense’. “The Office for National Statistics has shown that rents are increasing by less than inflation,” the statement said. “The Party has failed to heed the warning of the Labour Chair of Parliament’s Housing Committee who has previously warned that rising rents will only be addressed when more homes are built. “The party’s former Housing Minister in Wales has also warned that rent controls serve only to reduce the quality of accommodation, choke off supply, and make it more difficult for tenants to find the homes to rent they need.” Faced by such criticism, Corbyn has defended the policies, telling the BBC that: “What we’re doing is ensuring that all tenants have somewhere…