The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has published a landmark report setting out how the private rented sector in London should be transformed to give renters open-ended tenancies and to create powers to bring rents down.

The report sets out a detailed blueprint of how tenancy laws should be overhauled and what new powers the Mayor wants from Government to enable City Hall to introduce rent control. Under his rent control proposals, the Mayor would establish a new London Private Rent Commission, with renters on its board, to implement and enforce measures to reduce rents and keep them at lower levels.

Despite having no statutory powers over the private rented sector, the Mayor has led the way on rights for London’s 2.4m renters – campaigning to end letting agents charges to tenants, setting up a new public database to ‘name and shame’ rogue landlords and letting agents, and playing a central role in the campaign to scrap ‘no fault’ evictions.

With the average private rent for a one-bed home in London now more than the average for a three-bed in every other region of England, the Mayor believes the case for City Hall being given powers to bring rents down has become overwhelming. Far more Londoners are also now renting, with 26% renting privately in 2018, compared to only 11% in 1990.