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Pledges by London mayoral candidates to try to reduce rents could 鈥渆xtinguish鈥� the chances of attracting institutional funding to build new homes.

Industry figures have expressed concerns that promises by Labour candidate Ken Livingstone and the Liberal Democrats鈥� Brian Paddick to campaign for a 鈥渓iving rent鈥� for London could stymie plans to finance the construction of homes to let.

Londoners will vote on 3 May to decide who should be mayor of a city that accounts for a fifth of British construction output, with housing provision a key issue.

Nick Jopling, executive director at Grainger, said that while the company did not back any one candidate, he was concerned about any policies that would cap rents in the private sector.

鈥淎ny threat of regulation could extinguish what nascent interest there is from institutions,鈥� he said.

鈥淚鈥檓 a firm believer that the way to address affordability issues is simply to increase supply.鈥�

Officials have been pushing for institutional investment in housing for private rent for several years. In 2009 the Greater London Authority gave a development by Berkeley Group a 拢32m subsidy in a bid to kick-start the market.

Last week Conservative candidate Boris Johnson pledged to convene a meeting of pension funds 鈥渁nd bang their heads together until they realise that [investing in homes for rent] is a good thing鈥�.

However, his previous attempts to force the issue have failed.

Livingstone鈥檚 manifesto promises to cut the number of Londoners paying more than a third of their income in rent. The candidates have also clashed over the sharp decline in construction of affordable homes in the last year, following the 2010 Spending Review.

Responding to the funding concerns Livingstone said he wanted to 鈥渟et a benchmark鈥� for reasonable rents.

鈥淭he mayor does not have powers to regulate rents, but [as mayor] I will campaign for legislation for a fairer system of controlling rent increases based on successful schemes in other countries,鈥� he said.

鈥淏oris Johnson made great claims about building on GLA land but he has completely failed to deliver. I will release GLA land on a long-term equity share basis to housing associations and other developers on condition that they commit to a timetable for getting homes built.鈥�

VOX POPS

Rab Bennetts, founder, Bennetts Associates

鈥淲hile I鈥檇 normally say that Labour would actually be better for the construction industry, we鈥檙e all terribly bored of Ken Livingstone. I think it was a mistake to come back. I鈥檒l probably not be voting for either Ken or Boris.鈥�

Peter Rogers, technical director, Stanhope

鈥淣either mayor is perfect. You鈥檙e really looking at which one of them is the least bad. Boris is probably more intuitive, and ultimately it鈥檚 been seen that Ken鈥檚 green policies were desperately wrong.鈥�

Ken Shuttleworth, founder, Make Architects

鈥淲hile the propensity of Ken was to go for higher and higher buildings, we think both [Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson] are fine from our point of view. Both are a power for good, there鈥檚 really not much to choose between them.鈥�