The British Property Federation (BPF) has responded to a Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) report on retaliatory evictions by calling on the government to help the commercial property industry herald in a new era of better landlords.

The report says that thousands of tenants suffer run-down housing for fear of being evicted for complaining by unregulated landlords. CAB concluded that victims of retaliatory eviction should keep notes to be able to prove to a court that they had acted within their statutory rights as tenants (e.g. by requesting that repairs be carried out), and where this had been upheld the landlord would be prohibited from evicting the tenant for a minimum of six months.

The BPF believes that a middle ground needs to be found which stops any mistreatment of innocent tenants, but which also ensures that unruly tenants cannot use this as a loophole to remain in their occupancies. The federation is calling on the government to work with property developers to help encourage a larger level of institutional investment into the private rented sector.