The MPs Natalie Elphicke and Lloyd Russell-Moyle are to lead a debate today in the House of Commons on the private rental sector.
They are joint sponsors of the debate, and Russell-Moyle is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Renters and Rental Reform.
He has told the local media in Brighton, where he is an MP: “It’s clear renters are being evicted so landlords can charge more rent. We are seeing rental inflation of over 20 per cent in parts of the country and unless we get a grip of this problem there will be a wave of homelessness coming out of the private rented sector.
“Speaking to colleagues, I know some local authorities are increasing homelessness provision by seven-fold in preparation for the ongoing affordability crisis which is being driven by greed.
“The government has been sitting on a white paper to reform the private sector for months now and we need to see legislation brought forward to ban no-fault evictions and regulate rental increases.
“The debate on Thursday will be the chance to highlight injustices faced by renters and to propose solutions that can work for everyone.”
Both Elphicke and Russell-Moyle are ‘outliers’ in their respective parties.
Elphicke - in an article on the Conservative Home website - has recently said she wants to see “a newly shaped Department for Housing and Households” which would “robustly challenge the total costs of household bills.” She’s also called for the “freezing all rents at their current rates for up to two years. In addition, no property could be re-let at a higher price during that period. This would ensure that the rent freeze cannot be circumvented by re-letting.” She claims this would save around £2,000 for the average renter, and up to £4,000 in London.
Those policies are not backed by the Conservative party overall.
And back in 2018 Russell-Moyle - who went on to hold a shadow ministerial position when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader - got in hot water with letting agents in his constituency when he said in the Commons that a large number of agents used “dirty tactics” to charge more fees from those who rent properties. At the time he said: “We’ve heard a lot of talk about it being a few agents, but I have been told it’s a large number of agents. I would go so far as to say the majority of agents do these dirty tactics.”
The Brighton and Hove Estate Agents’ Association asked Russell-Moyle to reveal his evidence, saying there was a stigma attached to agents and that it was unfair to paint everyone with the same brush.
He briefly held a shadow ministerial role after the party was led by Sir Kier Starmer but resigned citing a “campaign by the right-wing media” against him.
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