New rules for millions of renters coming from Wednesday

The Chancellor is poised to make a huge change for millions of social renters in Budget. The new Labour Party Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her Autumn Statement and Budget on October 30, on Wednesday, after the General Election victory earlier this year.

Ms Reeves is set to announce plans for a new social housing rent settlement, resulting in rent increases above inflation over the next five years. The moves are part of a housing package that includes £500 million in new funding for up to 5,000 new affordable social homes.

Ms Reeves plans to cap social housing rents at CPI inflation plus 1% and will consult on this five-year rent settlement. Ms Reeves said: "We need to fix the housing crisis in this country. It’s created a generation locked out of the property market, torn apart communities and put the brakes on economic growth."

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Labour also plans to reduce Right to Buy, which allows tenants renting local authority-owned homes to buy them at a discounted rate, in order to protect existing council stock and keep council homes in the sector.

Ms Reeves said: "We are rebuilding Britain by ramping up housebuilding and delivering the 1.5million new homes we so badly need." Darren Baxter, principal policy adviser at Joseph Rowntree Foundation, added: "Investing in building social homes will make a real difference to the lives of people who are currently locked out of the economic security these homes could give them.

"It's welcome to see that alongside this investment, the government plans to take steps to reduce the number of homes lost to the private sector through the Right to Buy discounts." Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, says: "As inflation can spiral out of control very quickly, there needs to be mechanisms in place to protect tenants from extreme rent rises that put them at risk of becoming homeless."