The introduction of rent controls would be a “disaster” for tenants, the National Residential Landlords Association has argued.
This follows recent research which found that a third of private sector landlords will sell their properties if rent controls were to be introduced.
The data, which was compiled by the research consultancy Pegasus Insight, found that 33 per cent of landlords said implementation of rent controls would lead them to sell some, or all, of their rental properties.
NRLA chief executive, Ben Beadle, said: “Whichever way you look at it there are more renters looking for a place to live than there are homes available.
“Ultimately, rent controls would be a disaster for tenants. All they would do is choke off supply further, undermining what little choice tenants currently have when looking for somewhere to live.
“Housing is expensive because we don’t have enough of every type of property, be it for owner occupation, social rent or private rent.
“The only way to solve this crisis is to boost supply right across the board.”
Supply and demand
Additionally, the data also found that, in the second quarter of the year, 82 per cent of landlords in England and Wales reported strong demand for properties from tenants.
Demand was found to be strongest in the South West, followed by the South East, the East of England, and the East Midlands.
The North East was found to have the lowest levels of demand, with 68 per cent of landlords describing it as strong.
This trend was found to be continued in the context of “an already chronic shortage of homes across the private rental sector”.
The association stated that, despite strong demand, landlords were two times more likely to have sold properties over the previous year than to have purchased rental homes.
According to the data, 8 per cent had bought properties to rent out, compared with just 17 per cent who had sold.
Looking to the year ahead while 10 per cent said they planned to purchase new homes to rent out, one-third planned to sell over the same period.
This research comes as an analysis by Rightmove suggests that based on current levels of demand, around 120,000 more rental properties are needed to bring rent growth back to more normal levels of 2 per cent a year.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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