The National Residential Landlords Association has raised concerns over the call made by Natalie Elphicke MP for a 2 year private rented sector rent freeze In England in an article that she wrote for the Conservative Home website.

The article - Keeping people in their homes during harder times must be a top priority - comes on top of calls by the Conservative leaning Centre for Social Justice for the current Government to "uprate" Universal Credit payments to help financially vulnerable households cope with increased costs of living.

In the letter raising the NRLA's concerns they point out that though the MP's article "rightly raise[s] concerns about the impact of increasing inflation on households" the MP makes the "assertion that: 'It has been suggested that faster rising rents in London have fuelled 1.5% higher inflation in the Capital.'" However, the analysis the MP uses comes from Rightmove data which showed rent increases in London on newly available tenancies only and not rental rates for existing tenancies. The suggestion being that Ms Elphicke's calculations in support of her assertion were potentially off target.

The NRLA's chief executive, Ben Beadle, has asked for the opportunity to discuss the call for a rent freeze with the MP so that she can outline to him "how this would help address the supply [of available housing] crisis that tenants now face." given that demand for rental properties is currently outstripping supply leading to increasing asking rents.

With recent media reports of prospective tenants "gazumping" each other - especially but not exclusively in London - this situation is proof that two different things can be true at the same time - increasing inflation due to external events means rent levels are now unaffordable for many and, dwindling supply of in demand rental stock means new rents are rising and feeding into inflationary pressures.