
Landlords Never Really Die
Since its publication last year, Nick Bano’s book ‘Against Landlords’ has generated much debate about the housing crisis — and laid the ground for a new trend in left publishing.
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Adam Peggs is a writer and activist based in South London.
Since its publication last year, Nick Bano’s book ‘Against Landlords’ has generated much debate about the housing crisis — and laid the ground for a new trend in left publishing.
In yesterday’s speech to Labour conference, Angela Rayner announced plans to ban ‘no fault’ evictions — but without rent controls, landlords will still be allowed to hike rents to force out tenants.
Unless Sadiq Khan can discover the courage to take on the profiteers driving London’s housing emergency, his victory in today’s mayoral election will mean little to the city’s renters.
The Right to Buy turned a public good into private profit and birthed the housing crisis. But cities around the world are showing how to reverse this disaster by taking homes out of the hands of profiteers and returning them to public ownership.
Labour is pledging extra financial support to help first-time buyers onto the housing ladder – but more homeownership won’t fix a housing crisis caused by treating property as an asset. The party must be far bolder.
The Tories have always been capitalism’s representatives, but Margaret Thatcher approached that brief in new and brutal ways – taking class war to the very heart of British politics.