Green Party leader Zack Polanski will call for a rent-rise limiting “triple lock” to ease housing costs for young adults in his conference speech today. Mr Polanski, who is standing in next week’s Holborn and St Pancras by-election, is due to speak at the gathering in Brighton this afternoon, when he will call for an end to “fear and uncertainty” in the rental market.
Three-year emergency brake on rents
The London Assembly member will set out plans for a “three-year emergency brake”, which would temporarily limit rent rises to the lowest of either Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation, wage growth or 2%. These are similar metrics to the ones used to uprate the state pension each year, which rises by the highest of either inflation, wage growth or 2.5%.
“For too long, landlords have been able to hike prices way beyond wages,” Mr Polanski is expected to say. He will describe “25-year-olds who can’t find a job, no matter how many tens or hundreds of applications they put in, who can’t imagine ever being able to afford to rent even a room of their own, never mind being able to put down roots in their own home”.
Impact on renters and government
The party leader will also describe “30, 35-year-olds moving back to their parents’ place with their partners in tow, sometimes their kids too”, warning that for many of them “times get tougher and those months turn to years”.
Mr Polanski is expected to say: “Today I’m calling for a three-year emergency brake on private rents – no rent rises above CPI, wage growth or 2% – whichever is lower. No sudden hikes, no evictions under the guise of rent rises, no more fear and uncertainty. That emergency brake would give renters vital breathing space. Let wages begin to catch up with the rents that have outstripped them for too long. And give government time to develop a national fair rents guarantee – to keep rents fair and affordable for everyone, forever.”
Rent and wage data
According to the Office for National Statistics, the average UK monthly private rent increased by 3.7% in the 12 months to July 2026. Between May and July this year, annual wage growth – excluding bonuses – stood at 3.5%.
Earlier this week at the Labour Party conference, Prime Minister Andy Burnham unveiled plans to make changes to the state pension triple lock. Under his plans, from 2030 the state pension would rise every year by at least inflation or 2.5%, with no automatic annual link with increases in average earnings.
