Out of 170 respondents, 55% of brokers said they would like more protection over problem tenants, while 45% disagreed.
The results follow Shelter’s research from last week, which found that private tenants feel “powerless” to challenge their landlords over problems, with 16% running up against issues with their landlords in the last ten years.
Its survey found that 41% of tenants have tried to talk to their landlords about problems, but the landlord did nothing.
David Cox, policy officer, National Landlords Association (NLA) insists that landlords are in need of more assistance from local authorities to enable them to deal with problem tenants quickly.
“Landlords are currently unable to do anything about anti-social behaviour committed by their tenants other than file a section 21 Notice and evict them. With this in mind, we believe councils should advise landlords when there has been a complaint made against their tenants so the landlord can work with them to take appropriate action.
“We would also like to see the time it takes to get a court hearing significantly reduced in order to deal with problem tenants more quickly.”
John Heron, Paragon Mortgages managing director, said that landlord and tenant rights in the UK have been well-balanced for a number of years based on the structure of the assured short-hold tenant agreement, which was introduced in 1988.
He said: “The sector is not without its challenges, but the very fact that it has been able to expand and that 17.4% of English property stock is in the private rented sector (PRS) is a great indicator of its flexibility.
“The PRS has been able to respond to the fact that fewer people are now able or want to buy their own home and that there is now less accommodation available in the social housing sector.
“Nevertheless, more work can and should be done to professionalise the sector and here we should applaud the progress made by the NLA, especially in terms of training and accreditation. The work of the property ombudsman is also important for tenants so they have access to independent arbitration when direct negotiations with their landlord have failed.”
