London mayor Sadiq Khan calls for two-year rent freez...

Rents should be frozen in London to avert mass evictions, city mayor Sadiq Khan has told the government.

Khan wants new powers to prevent any rent hikes for two years and has warned that up to half a million people living in the capital could face eviction because of arrears accrued during lockdown.

Despite little evidence to suggest rents in London are currently rising, Khan is lobbying for guidelines to be changed.

It comes as the existing tenant evictions ban in England is set to come to an end this weekend.

The mayor is also requesting the introduction of grants to allow renters to stay in their homes to clear arrears and to scrap Section 21 evictions as well as expanding access to welfare by abolishing the benefit cap.

He commented: "More than ever, Covid-19 means that many of London's private renters are facing a really uncertain future.

"More likely to be in lower-paid and insecure work, the end of the furlough scheme means even more renters in the capital are now at risk of pay cuts or losing their job.”

“If Berlin can freeze rents for five years, there’s no reason London shouldn't be able to freeze rents for two years in these extraordinary times,” he added.

We're excited to announce that we're working on building a shiny new website for readers of Landlord Today! As part of this process, commenting on articles will be temporarily disabled. We look forward to sharing our new and improved Landlord Today website with you shortly!