Rent levels

That this House notes with alarm that renters across the UK now pay on average a third of their wages on rent, the highest level on record; recognises the huge impact this is having on communities, with families forced to cut back on essentials and young people priced out of the areas they grew up in; further notes that the government is set to transfer £70 billion to private landlords through housing support between 2024 and 2028, six times the amount of money that was spent on affordable homes over the past five years; also notes research by the Joseph Roundtree Foundation that shows that rent controls would cut the cost of linking Local Housing Allowance rates to local rents by £1.1 billion in 2030/31; calls on the government to adopt an immediate emergency brake on private rents at the Budget, so that rent rises do not go above the lowest of CPI, wage growth or 2%; believes an emergency brake would give renters breathing space, saving the average private renter in England at least £884 over three years, while a national Fair Rents Guarantee is implemented; and demands this urgent and immediate Government action to end rip-off rents at the upcoming Autumn Budget.