ENGLAND — Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering imposing a one-year freeze on private sector rents in England as part of a cost-of-living package scheduled to be launched in the coming weeks. Under the proposals, landlords in England would be banned from raising rents for a limited period.

An outright one-year rent freeze is Reeves's favored option among the interventions being debated within the government. New-build properties are expected to be exempted from the freeze to encourage developers to continue working on new schemes. The Treasury said it would not comment on speculation.

Reeves had previously resisted including rent controls in the government's renters' rights reforms, which come into force on Friday. While in opposition, Labour commissioned a report from Stephen Cowan recommending a rent cap in England and Wales ensuring rents do not rise by more than either inflation or local wages.

Labour has promised to oversee the building of 1.5 million homes over the course of the parliament. The number of homes now being built is about a third below the level needed to meet that target.

Robert Colvile, head of the Centre for Policy Studies, said: "This feels like a mind-boggling scale of intervention in the private market. If the government wants to bring rents down it should build an awful lot more houses."

George Bangham, head of social policy at the New Economics Foundation, said: "We have an affordability crisis in the private rented sector, which dates back to before the pandemic. Other countries in western Europe already do this, and England used to from 1915 until 1989. We know rent controls can fix an affordability crisis if done carefully, we just need to be willing to impose them."

The Green Party has proposed rent controls in England and Wales, and Zack Polanski called for a one-year rent freeze in Wales until rent controls come into force. Members of the Scottish Parliament have passed a bill to allow ministers to cap rent in certain areas. The government of Spain has introduced a temporary measure allowing renters to demand a rent freeze for up to two years.

Reeves is also considering a package of support to help with some households' energy bills later this summer and is under pressure to cancel a planned rise in fuel duty. The International Monetary Fund warned this month that the UK would suffer the sharpest growth downgrade and joint highest inflation rate in the G7 this year, even if fallout from soaring energy costs could be contained by the middle of 2026.