HOUSING Secretary Angela Rayner has confirmed she is not looking to bring in rent controls.

She said changes made through renters’ rights legislation brought in under Labour so far “are already having a significant impact on the market”.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said: “We won’t be looking at rent controls if that’s what you’re getting at at the moment.

“That is not something that we’re looking to do because we’ve seen what’s happened in areas like Scotland. It hasn’t necessarily brought rents down.”

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Rent restrictions were temporarily introduced in Scotland in 2022 during the cost of living crisis.

Rayner said the work the Government has done to make sure that landlords are giving people fair rents, tenants have the ability to challenge rent hikes at tribunal and making sure that people are not entering bidding wars to secure a property are having an impact on the market.

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This is more favourable to renters and is a better way of stabilising the rental market, she said.

When asked whether Prime Minister Andy Burnham still stood by a call he backed three years ago for a freeze on private sector rents until the cost of living crisis is over, she said: “I don’t think that rent freezes, rent controls is a way forward at the moment… three years ago Andy called for that because there was a significant crisis in the rental market.

“We implemented between then the Renters’ Rights Act which is giving renters more power and control.”

The Renters’ Rights Act came into force on May 1 and banned no-fault evictions, fixed-term contracts and capped upfront rent at one month.

Tenants also have the legal right to request a pet and landlords can’t unreasonably refuse.