Labour leader Chris Hipkins says his party won't consider rent controls after the Greens made an election promise to implement them.
On Sunday, the Green Party announced a new policy, called "Pledge to Renters", that would enforce stricter rent controls. The policy would limit annual rent increases for landlords, require homes to have a rental 'warrant of fitness', and create a national register of landlords and property managers to track rental property ownership and rent charges.
But Hipkins said Labour, who would require the Greens and the Māori Party to form a Government in October based on recent polling, wasn't considering a rent controls policy.
"The experience of rent caps, internationally, is that they don't tend to result in a better deal for renters," he told AM host Ryan Bridge on Tuesday.
"They can constrain rental supply which, in itself, has a price impact on the level of rent that people will pay.
"It's not something that the Government has considered or been willing to consider."
The Greens have described rent controls as being part of its election promise to "end poverty in Aotearoa".
At the other end of the political spectrum, ACT likened the policy to making it harder to farm during a famine.
Trade Me data showed the year-on-year national median rent climbed $35 per week to reach $610 in May, meaning tenants were coughing up $1820 more than in 2022.
