Green Party leader Zack Polanski will call for a three-year emergency brake on private rents, arguing that soaring housing costs are leaving younger renters unable to build secure lives.

Speaking at the Green Party conference in Brighton, Polanski will propose a “triple lock” limiting annual rent rises to whichever is lowest: CPI inflation, wage growth or 2%. The intervention comes as rents continue to rise faster than many tenants can comfortably absorb.

Polanski targets the fear gripping renters

Polanski is expected to warn of 25-year-olds unable to find work who cannot imagine affording even a room of their own, alongside older renters forced back into their parents’ homes.

He will argue that repeated rent increases are preventing people from putting down roots, describing a cycle in which temporary financial pressure can stretch into years of insecurity.

The numbers show the pressure

Office for National Statistics figures show average UK private rents rose by 3.7% in the year to July 2026. Annual wage growth excluding bonuses was 3.5% between May and July, meaning rents were rising slightly faster than earnings over those periods.

Polanski will argue that his emergency brake would give renters “vital breathing space” while allowing wages to catch up with housing costs.

The Green plan would cap rises for three years

Under the proposal, landlords would be unable to increase private rents above the lowest of CPI inflation, wage growth or 2% for three years.

Polanski will also call for the government to use that period to develop a permanent “national fair rents guarantee”, aimed at keeping rents affordable beyond the emergency measure.

The proposal comes as Labour targets its own triple lock

The language deliberately echoes the state pension triple lock, which increases payments according to the highest of inflation, earnings growth or 2.5%.

But Prime Minister Andy Burnham has separately announced plans to change that system from 2030, removing the automatic earnings link and guaranteeing annual increases of at least inflation or 2.5%. Polanski’s proposal would reverse the logic: protecting renters by using the lowest measure to restrict rent increases.

Polanski to demand rent rise brake 'triple lock' in conference speech

A rent freeze provides short-term relief for sitting tenants, but it severely damages the broader housing market by driving landlords to sell up and deterring new investment. This supply crunch ultimately reduces rental availability, traps existing tenants who are afraid to move, and causes even higher starting prices for anyone trying to find a new home.

Not a projection apparently, but more or less what happened in Scotland when it was tried.