A group representing letting agents has slammed the chaotic growth of the private rented sector in recent years and called for radical change to solve the rental housing crisis it has created.

The Lettings Industry Council (TLIC) lays bare the problems facing the sector in a new briefing paper, including how Government policy has drastically reduced the number of council-provided affordable rented properties via Right to Buy, leaving private landlords to close the gap.

“Private landlords are not equipped or funded to provide the support services needed by households with high social needs,” says the TLIC’s briefing paper.

“They provide homes for this vulnerable group because of the gross shortage of social rented homes.”

At the same time, many young people who should already be on the property ladder are still renting as a lack of house building means property prices have been spiralling, while Government policy has raised costs and taxes for landlords.

Ballooned

Also, the student population has ballooned, sucking supply out of the market, rising from 1.3 million to 2.86 million students since 2000.

This ‘perfect storm’ needs racial solutions, the TLIC says, including a huge increase in the construction of social homes, better support from private landlords, more powers and funding for councils to eject rogue or ‘incompetent’ operators, encouraging the building of new homes on smaller sites, reducing the number of empty properties and clamping down on second homes.

The TLIC also applauds the Government’s plans to bring in a mandatory national system of registration for landlords in England, managed and enforced via the looming Landlord Portal. Read the report here.

Co-founder and Chair of TLIC Theresa Wallace (main image) says: “Every agent should be trained to a minimum standard according to their role. “Without adequate knowledge, landlords can be poorly advised and could find themselves on the wrong side of the law, with tenants’ health and safety put at risk.”