Labour has pledged to create a national register of landlords to replace the current Register of Rogue Landlords which only lists those who have been handed a banning order by local councils.
Labour leader Keir Starmer says his party will stand behind generation rent which struggles with high rents imposed by rogue landlords and has been left “in a headlock” by the Prime Minister’s decision to ditch housebuilding targets. The Labour party would reverse and enforce requirements on local areas to build in line with local need, said Starmer.
Trapped tenants
He said scrapping targets hampered ambition and trapped tenants in a cycle of higher rents, but stagnant wages. Labour has also pledged to put first-time buyers at the top of the list for new houses in their area and to prevent foreign buyers snapping up swathes of new housing developments. It has also previously promised to introduce a comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme to help first-time buyers who can’t afford a deposit.
“Our raft of measures – from setting locally led house building targets, to giving first-time buyers first dibs on developments – will support the aspiration of hard working young Brits and make their dream of home ownership a reality,” he told the Sunday Mirror.
Talented generation
He added: “The Labour Party won’t stand by while a whole ambitious and talented generation are left behind and forced to struggle. My Labour government will get a grip of it so their hard work rightly allows them to get on.”
Data for March showed the biggest fall in housebuilding activity since the first Covid lockdown, Labour said, and it is predicted to drop to the lowest rate since the Second World War. It forecast that the slowdown could cost renters an extra £200 a year by 2030.
