Campaign: Slam the brakes on soaring rent
4in10 Member Generation Rent is campaigning for a limit on how much landlords can raise the rent. Find out more about the campaign and sign up for regular updates.
Increasingly housing affordability in the shorter-term
While in the medium to long-term increasing social housing is the key to meeting London’s children’s right to housing, there are also actions we believe can and should be taken in the shorter-term. Tackling these is essential to prevent more families being unable to afford their rent and ever greater numbers of children being put at the risk of homelessness.
Local housing allowance (LHA) rates have been frozen indefinitely at the 30th percentile of 2024 rental prices, which means that as rent rises, more and more properties become unaffordable for families eligible for the housing component of Universal Credit.
Modelling by the Resolution Foundation has shown that repegging rates of LHA to rise with the 30th percentile annually would mean 75,000 fewer children living in poverty by the end of Labour’s current term in office.
However, for this measure to be most effective it must also be accompanied by removal of the benefit cap, which we know impacts Londoners heavily. If it isn’t, then even if LHA is raised, many families already affected by the cap will see no benefit at all and others would be drawn into it for the first time.
We also believe that the uprating of LHA should be implemented alongside stronger measures to set reasonable limits on how much landlords can increase the rent during a tenancy, otherwise it is likely to have the unintended consequence of ratcheting up rents and increasing landlords’ profits rather than increasing affordability for families. Measures in the Renters Rights Act go some way towards this, by limiting rent rises to once a year and allowing for appeal to the Tribunal but on their own are unlikely to be enough. Rent increases should be limited in line with inflation or wage growth, whichever is lower.
Action on service charges
Another factor contributing to the unaffordability of housing in London is the soaring service charges many of those renting. London is particularly affected by the increasing costs associated with leasehold, as over a third (36.1 per cent) of the capital’s homes are leasehold, compared to only 16 per cent in the rest of England (London Assembly, 2025).
Calls to Action
We are calling on the Government to:
Uprate rates of LHA to the 30th percentile annually, AND
Lift the benefit cap, AND
Introduce further rent stabilisation measures (or powers to allow the Mayor to do so)
The Greater London Authority must update the Mayor’s Service Charges Charter and Leasehold Guide for Londoners to reflect recent legislative changes and launch a new campaign to encourage more freeholders in London to sign up to the Charter.
Helpful Resource
Trust for London’s Poverty Profile provides up to date data on how Londoners are affected by the Benefit Cap.
