Green Party leader Zack Polanski has called for national rent controls and the abolition of Right to Buy, claiming landlords are profiting while “ripping the heart out of communities across the UK.” In a major economic speech at the New Economics Foundation on 18 March, Polanski positioned the Greens as a radical alternative to Labour ahead of local elections, with private landlords central to his attack on what he called “rip-off Britain.”
Landlords blamed for hollowed-out high streets
Polanski claimed that freezing rents at autumn 2022 levels would have saved households £3,300 per year on average – putting £18 billion “back in the pockets of ordinary people” rather than “straight into landlords’ pockets.” Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said: “Spiralling rents are ripping the heart out of communities across the UK. Renters are being forced to cut back on essentials just to afford the cost of a roof over their heads – and it’s not just individuals who suffer as a result, it’s the entire economy.” The Green leader pointed to rent controls operating in 16 European countries as evidence the policy could work in the UK, despite widespread criticism from economists and evidence from Scotland that caps have accelerated landlord exits and pushed rents higher in the uncontrolled sector. “A Green government would bring in rent controls,” Polanski said. “We would stop the chokehold of rip-off rents and breathe life back into our communities.”
Right to Buy abolition and wealth tax
Polanski also called for the end of Right to Buy, claiming the policy had transferred public housing wealth to private landlords. “Over two million houses have now been sold under Right to Buy since it was introduced,” he said. “One in six private renters is now renting a former council home, often at extortionate rates, and often partly paid for by the government in the form of housing benefit.” The speech formed part of a broader economic agenda that included a wealth tax on assets above £10 million, water renationalisation, and a cap on energy bills funded by windfall taxes. Polanski singled out property wealth as a target, claiming more than one in four UK billionaires derive some or all of their wealth from property and inheritance – “money being made not by putting anything into the economy but simply from sitting on assets or charging somebody else for the use of them.”
Labour rejected rent controls in Renters Rights Act
The Green leader criticised the government for rejecting rent control amendments to the Renters Rights Act, tabled by Green MP Carla Denyer. “Our brilliant Green MP Carla Denyer tried to fix this scandal, pushing for rent controls to be included in the Renters Rights Bill – but this Labour government just wouldn’t listen,” he said. This follows Landlord Knowledge’s February coverage of the government’s position on rent controls, in which Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook warned they would reduce supply and investment in the rental sector. The latest speech marks an escalation in the party’s anti-landlord rhetoric as it seeks to capitalise on housing affordability concerns ahead of May’s local elections.
What this means for landlords
- If you’re in Scotland: The rent cap there has already driven landlord exits and pushed rents higher between tenancies – Polanski’s proposal would risk replicating this across England and Wales
- Watch for: Local elections in May, where Green gains could increase pressure on Labour to adopt tougher anti-landlord policies
- Bottom line: Rent controls remain unlikely under this government, but the political direction of travel is clear – landlords face continued policy hostility regardless of which party holds power locally
Editor’s view
The economics are against him, but Polanski knows his audience. Rent controls poll well with tenants even when they demonstrably fail – as Scotland has shown. For landlords, the real concern is not whether Greens form a government, but whether their rhetoric shifts the Overton window far enough that mainstream parties feel compelled to follow.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 19 March 2026
Sources: Green Party, The Guardian
Related reading: Greens and unions call national rent controls protest ahead of elections
