Robert Jordan, president of the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA), cautioned the new housing minister, Caroline Flint, and PM Gordon Brown to “not go too far on the legislative bandwagon or you will kill off the private rented sector” at ARLA’s fifth annual conference.

Jordan said: “The Government’s own figures may suggest that there are over half a million landlords in the private rented sector but the market cannot afford to lose any of them, particularly in troubled times.”

He also reminded delegates that it is only off-plan and new build speculation, particularly with flats in large blocks in the metropolitan areas, which are the primary cause of the problems in the market.

Delegates were also told that licensing of all letting agents is the solution to bad practice in the rental market, especially as flat house sales will encourage other insufficiently-qualified agents to go into lettings as a survival mechanism.

Lord Richard Best, previously the director of the Rowntree Trust and now chairman of the Hanover Housing Association and council member Ombudsman for estate agents, said that the timing is right for the Housing and Regeneration Bill to include measures for the regulation of private sector landlords, as well as housing associations and council landlords. He commended the Law Commission report that advocates a self-regulatory regime whereby anyone wishing to be a landlord or letting agent must be a member of a professional body or an approved accreditation scheme.