TENANTS in Bristol are facing a “Wild West” market, with rents growing at a much faster rate than people’s incomes, the city’s mayor Marvin Rees warned today.

Mr Rees said that there is a need for rent controls in the housing market as private tenants face some of the highest prices outside London at a time when the supply and quality of existing homes also need to be considered.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There has been no real change in our regulatory powers as a local authority to keep up with the changing nature of the housing market.

“We are taking old tools to new challenges.”

He said that while there were complexities implicit with rent control, “we certainly need [an] intervention in the rental market.”

“Whether you call that control or not is up to you, but there needs to be an intervention, because allowing this Wild West of the rental market with rents growing out of all pace to people’s income,” Mr Rees said.

Over the last decade, rents in Bristol have risen by 52 per cent while wages have gone up by 24 per cent, he said, warning that there is a “huge price to pay, not just in the individuals impacted.”

“A good-quality home is one of the most significant public health interventions we can make that will give us more resilience against future pandemics such as Covid,” Mr Rees said.

“It means that we can actually recruit teachers and nurses to Bristol, which we are struggling to do now because of the affordability.”

He said Bristol has set up a living rent commission to look at the housing market in the area and come up with recommendations to ensure people can live there.