Housing and planning

What positions have MPs and peers taken on housebuilding, planning and renting over the past twelve months?

A briefing written by AI (Claude) from the Hansard records cited below, prepared 26 October 2026 from records up to 23 October 2026. Check the sources before relying on it.

In brief

Government ministers set out the Renters' Rights Act and a refusal of rent controls as their approach, as when Baroness Taylor of Stevenage said "The government has no plans to introduce rent controls in the private rented sector." [Source 2]
Westminster backbenchers and Liberal Democrat peers pressed for more rent and social housing action, as when Andrew George said "we need rent controls as well as the Renters' Rights Act" [Source 22], while Edward Leigh warned about landlord exits.
In the devolved parliaments, Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly members argued over fair-rent legislation, rent controls and housing supply, as when Gerry Carroll said "We need rent controls that reduce rents" [Source 29].

Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly - divided over how to curb rents

These parliaments decide housing policy for their own nations. Members disagreed about rent controls, as when Gerry Carroll (People Before Profit Alliance, Northern Ireland Assembly, 19 January 2026) said "Rent controls clearly work. They work for renters." [Source 29]

Robbie Butler (UUP, Northern Ireland Assembly, 19 January 2026) backed a rent adjudicator, saying it "moves us away from blunt instruments and towards independent judgement, transparency and fairness." [Source 31]
Siân Gwenllian (Plaid Cymru, Senedd, 9 June 2026) said "I do intend to bring forward legislation in this Senedd term to improve housing affordability" [Source 26] and that she was looking at fair-rent measures used elsewhere.
Francesca O'Brien (Reform UK, Senedd, 29 September 2026) turned to supply, saying "Wales is not short of plans, it is short of homes" [Source 27]. She also called for statutory time limits on planning decisions.
Leticia Gonzalez (Plaid Cymru, Senedd, 17 June 2026) warned that energy efficiency requirements "will inevitably add further cost pressures on landlords, costs that tenants are already worried will simply be passed on through higher rents." [Source 25]

Ministers - defending the Renters' Rights Act and rejecting rent controls

Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State, pointed to the Act, saying it "has empowered private rented sector tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases, outlawed rental bidding" [Source 1].

Baroness Taylor, replying to peers' questions on 4 and 5 August 2026, said average rents in England rose 3.4% in the 12 months to June, down from a peak of 9.2% in November 2024 [Source 2].
Steve Reed, Secretary of State, told the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on 11 November 2025 that "the private rented sector offers the least affordable, poorest-quality and most insecure housing of all tenures, but that is a minority of landlords" [Source 34].

Backbenchers and Liberal Democrat peers - split on controls, agreed on supply

Baroness Pinnock, Liberal Democrat Lords spokesperson, said on 1 June 2026 that the Social Housing Bill "falls mightily short of the real challenge, which is a greater supply of social housing." [Source 6]

Edward Leigh (Conservative, rural seat) asked on 12 January 2026 whether "the more controls and regulations are imposed on landlords, particularly small landlords, the more they will get out of the rented sector altogether" [Source 17].
Andrew George (Liberal Democrat, rural seat) argued on 16 April 2026 for "tax incentives" [Source 22] for landlords who provide decent homes and lower rents.

Committee witnesses - supply risk from landlord costs

Richard Donnell, Executive Director Research at Zoopla, told the Treasury Committee on 12 November 2025 that "if we layer more cost on to private landlords, they will want to sell properties, which will reduce supply." [Source 33]

About the evidence: Most Westminster material consists of written questions, which state no positions, and I have not used them. Devolved contributions come from the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly, which decide many housing matters for their own nations, and there is nothing from the Scottish Parliament. There are no division records, and each group rests on only a few speakers.

Housing and planning

Sources