More than three in five (63%) of landlords would say the government has introduced too much regulation in the private rental sector, a new survey from Market Financial Solutions (MFS) has indicated.

This comes as the specialist lender’s research also found that 73% of tenants say the rental market needs tighter regulation.

Market Financial Solutions commissioned an independent survey among a nationally-representative sample of 2,000 UK adults – 702 respondents were tenants and 211 were landlords.

The specialist lender’s study also found that the majority of landlords (65%) believe they have been “unfairly penalised” and targeted by the government in the past decade.

However, a larger majority (74%) of tenants say that more needs to be done to improve the standard of rental properties.

A greater majority (77%) stated that they want rental price controls, while 78% of respondent tenants said that renters should be able to claim rent back if they are made to live in poor quality accommodation. Furthermore, seven in 10 (69%) tenants believe there should be more multi-year, long-term lets in the rental market.

“Clearly, there is some discord between landlords and tenants on the topic of further regulation in the private rental sector,” commented MFS CEO, Paresh Raja. “With rents rising, tenants obviously feel that not enough is being done to protect renters, with many showing clear support for rent controls and tenants being able to claim money back if their accommodation is not of a high enough standard.

“That said, the influx of regulations in the past decade has left a majority of landlords feeling unfairly targeted. We must work to strike a careful balance – we need a buoyant rental market, so squeezing landlords too tightly might result in a greater number of poor quality or empty rental properties. In a market that’s already grappling with an undersupply of properties and an ever-growing demand, this could have detrimental ramifications for rental prices in the future.

“As such, while it’s vitally important that tenants feel protected in the private rental sector, the Government must tread a fine line between protecting renters and disincentivising landlords.”

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