England (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The Green Party has passed a motion at its 2025 conference committing to the gradual abolition of private landlords in England and Wales, advocating increased council housing and rent controls. This policy aims to tackle the housing crisis by transferring rental homes into social ownership and imposing tighter regulations and taxes on the private rental sector.
Green Party Conference Adopts Motion
At its 2025 Bournemouth conference, the Green Party formally adopted a motion to “seek the effective abolition of private landlordism” in England and Wales, making it official party policy. As reported by Isabel Hardman of The Telegraph, party members backed radical reforms targeting buy-to-let mortgages, rent controls, and new rights for tenants to buy homes they rent, at discounted prices based on rent already paid. The motion was widely supported by activists pushing for significant deregulation of the private rental market.
Carla Denyer, Green MP for Bristol Central and the party’s housing spokesperson, was quoted by BBC journalist Jonathan Blake saying the motion’s title was “attention-grabbing” but not an absolute abolition of landlords. She emphasised the policy’s intent to “address the housing crisis, empower tenants and improve their wellbeing” through a gradual reduction of the private rental market share combined with a significant expansion of council housing.
Policy Measures to Transform Housing
The Green Party’s new housing policy outlined several key measures:
- Imposition of greater regulation and taxation on landlords, including the introduction of national insurance on rental income and the levying of new taxes such as a Land Value Tax on property owners, as documented by Hazza_time on Reddit and reflected in party documents.
- Ending buy-to-let mortgages to reduce financial incentives for private landlords.
- Granting local councils the right to purchase rental properties when landlords sell, enabling a transfer of housing stock into public ownership.
- Tenant first right to buy homes, with the total rent paid by tenants discounted from purchase prices and government-backed financing available.
- Abolition of the Right to Buy for public tenants to preserve social housing stock.
- Introduction of rent controls empowering local authorities to cap rents in unaffordable markets.
- Establishing private residential tenancy boards to resolve disputes without formal tribunals.
- Building a dedicated state-owned housing manufacturer to mass-produce quality council homes.
Context and Rationale
The Greens argue the private rental sector exploits renters by diverting wealth to landlords, contributing to insecurity, unaffordable rents, and worsening the housing crisis that affects millions across the UK. According to BBC, roughly 19% of households in England and 17% in Wales live in private rentals, making it the UK’s second-largest housing tenure.
The party’s motion frames private landlordism as “a vehicle for wealth extraction” and calls the mass expansion of the sector since the 1980s a core cause of the ongoing housing crisis. It believes decommodifying housing through reversing the growth of private renting and massively increasing council housing supply is the only sustainable solution. The new policies aim to create 150,000 new social homes annually through public building and acquisition of private stock.
Reaction and Political Implications
While the policy has energized grassroots activists demanding more tenant protections and affordable housing, it also faces criticism from landlord groups and more moderate voices who warn about potential market disruption and effects on housing supply. Carla Denyer reiterated the pragmatic nature of the plan, downplaying fears of immediate abolition of landlords and stressing its phased approach.
Green Party’s Guiding Principles on Housing
The policy reflects the Greens’ foundational belief that secure, affordable housing is a human right and that housing should not be treated as a commodity. Their approach includes environmental sustainability with new homes built to high energy efficiency standards, retrofitting existing housing stock, and integrating social and community benefits alongside affordability.
