ACORN calls out Lambeth candidates on rent controls, bailiffs and bad landlords ahead of 7 May elections

Rent control campaigners ACORN Lambeth have put every sitting councillor and a range of candidates on the spot ahead of the 7 May local elections, asking the community union’s …

May 5, 2026 - 08:18

ACORN calls out Lambeth candidates on rent controls, bailiffs and bad landlords ahead of 7 May elections

Rent control campaigners ACORN Lambeth have put every sitting councillor and a range of candidates on the spot ahead of the 7 May local elections, asking the community union’s three campaign questions.

ACORN is asking candidates to back:

Rent controls
An end to the use of bailiffs to collect council tax
Zero tolerance for bad landlords

The results, published on ACORN’s Instagram this week, draw a clear line through the field. Every Green Party, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) and Shake It Up candidate, plus Independent Laura Graham, have backed all three campaigns.

Not a single Liberal Democrat councillor has replied.

Most Labour councillors haven’t responded either. Of those who did, all said they support rent controls and zero tolerance for bad landlords – but none would back ACORN’s call to stop using bailiffs to chase council tax debt.

There’s a wider problem with the Labour position on rent controls. Steve Reed, the former Lambeth Council leader who is now Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has already ruled out introducing them at national level.

Lambeth Labour councillors backing rent controls in a local survey are backing something their own government has refused to deliver.

On bailiffs, Labour councillors have told ACORN they don’t need to commit to ending their use because the council uses ‘enforcement officers’ instead.

Lambeth Council’s own website settles the point: its council tax pages refer to ‘enforcement agents (also known as bailiffs)’, and tell residents who’ve had letters from them to pay them directly.

Some Labour councillors have also claimed that residents who engage with the system won’t face enforcement – a claim that will surprise anyone who has been on the receiving end.

ACORN disrupted a Lambeth Town Hall meeting in January over what its spokesperson Paul Adams called “outrageous and almost medieval” practices, including imprisonment for non-payment.

In London, council tax debt is soaring. £1.4 billion is currently owed across the capital, up 11% in the last year [1].

People with mental health issues, younger people and minority-ethnic groups are more likely to fall behind [2]. In 2024–25, over 24,000 Lambeth cases were referred to debt collection companies.

ACORN’s three demands are grounded in casework Brixton Buzz readers will recognise.

Over the past four years the union has supported Lambeth tenant Marie Cafun, whose ceiling collapsed exposing asbestos after six years of unresolved leaks and mould; defeated multi-millionaire landlord Lexadon’s attempt to push through a 74% rent hike on Herne Hill resident Kim; and run a multi-year campaign on behalf of leaseholder Fehintola Anozie and his mother after their Central Hill flat was flooded with raw sewage three times.

Shake It Up isn’t a registered political party, so its candidates appear on the ballot as Independents. Voters intending to back them should check the full list before voting.

ACORN has produced a tool to email your local councillors asking them to back the three campaigns: acornuk.good.do/london/lambeth-election-2026