To welcome rent controls in London

[Cameblackbenzleftwhite1]

Many other cities have them like Berlin and new York and it seems to work well. Helps people live in a city and not cleanse all the poor people out.

Daily mail foamers are hating corbyns plabs, so that probably means it's good.

If they are subletting then they don't need the property and should be fined heavily.

Yes but if all tenants had the same rights there would be minimal subletting. Of course you aren't going to give up a secure tenancy because you've got a new job or found a new boyfriend- because if you do you'll never get a secure tenancy again when it all goes tits up.

If, on the other hand, you could give up your tenancy safe in the knowledge that at any time you could walk into a safe secure home at a fair rent, it wouldn't be an issue.

Yes I see but I'm not convinced, no one should be profiting from it if they are council tenants.

But Anne that was never the case under the Rent Acts, which is where we came in.

&Cameblackbenzleftwhite1 seriously do you have any idea about what you are talking about?

Utilities aren't regulated because they are essential services - they are regulated because there aren't true market forces in play. If you are a household you (for example) can't buy your water from anyone other than your area supplier. Without regulation Thames water could say "that's a million pounds please".

CMA gets involved acriss all industries, even non 'essential services' (as you keep harping on about) to basically prevent monopolies. Because monopolies are bad for consumers in all sectors...

Housing - plenty of suppliers. Housing assosiations, councils, private landlords, large commercial landlords - loads of them. They are not conspiring with each other to screw you over.

Of course they shouldn't but it's an obvious consequence to having a two tier system. It would happen less if all tenancies were secure.

@Cameblackbenzleftwhite1 interestingly if you are non-household non-regulated water customer (i.e. commercial customer like a shop or hair dresser) you can now choose your water supplier.

However it's a low margin business (all you get is the retail margin and you need massive working capital to meet the wholesaler payments) to be in and the major water companies are selling their NHHR customer books and the market is consolidating faster than anyone expected. And back to having like 3 major players. So that didn't work too well.

I always find the over confident "you don't know what your talking about and I'm an expert so shut up" talk very telling.

Energy is one of the most regulated markets, and that's because it is essential. Likewise water.

Look at the bigger picture.

Cameback
I think it is too simple to say energy is regulated because it's essential. Utility supply until recently had very high entry barriers because of the enormous capital investment needed. Water companies, for example, were granted statutory licences with a 25 year notice period for termination to allow for high capex. Consequently normal market competition could not apply so regulation had to address that.