Polanski proposes three-year cap on private rent increases

Zack Polanski has proposed limiting private rent increases for three years, using the lowest of consumer-price inflation, wage growth or 2% as the ceiling. The Green leader announced the policy at his party’s conference in Brighton on Friday, 2 October.

How the proposal would work

The policy would allow increases below the ceiling, so it is not an unconditional rent freeze. The party says a longer-term national Fair Rents Guarantee would follow. Both measures are proposals: the speech does not change the rules currently governing a tenancy.

Pressure on Labour

ITV’s account of the delivered speech confirms the rent-control announcement. Polanski also argued that Green electoral successes push Labour towards more progressive policies. That is his political assessment, rather than proof that any particular government decision resulted from Green pressure.

Details still to come

The party’s announcement sets out the three-part ceiling but does not specify a complete enforcement scheme, the wage series to use or the treatment of newly agreed tenancies. Those details would determine how the proposal worked for tenants and landlords in practice. The claimed relief for renters remains an intended outcome, not a measured result.