Yesterday the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called on ministers to grant City Hall the power to freeze private rents in a bid to ease the cost of living crisis.

Franz Doerr, co-founder and co-CEO of payment technology company flatfair, said:

“Sadiq Khan has diagnosed the right problem but offered the wrong solution. Rent controls may help those living long-term in the same accommodation, but as superheated markets like Berlin have demonstrated, they punish new arrivals and frequent movers.

“Young people in particular are both hardest hit by cost-of-living increases, and more frequent movers than the rest of the population, with average private tenancies of a little over a year. Costly rental deposits hit this young, mobile population the hardest.

“Easing the burden on Generation Rent requires a more nuanced, coordinated approach than capping rents. The Government and City Hall should consider opening the door to deposit alternatives, doing away with the need to stump up a costly five-weeks’ rent and unlocking the £4.5 billion currently held in rental deposits.”