The government is being urged by industry property sector companies for its impending Cabinet reshuffle to include appointing a Renting Minister.

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Anne Marie-Brown the CEO of a recently launched Build to Rent online portal, has written to Boris Johnson urging him to appoint a Renting Minister to help millions of tenants.

In her letter which was also signed by industry companies such as Arcadis and developers Folio and Hera, she calls for the Prime Minister to make it a priority to ‘oversee and raise standards for millions of people currently in rental accommodation, much of which is not fit for purpose and to enforce these standards on landlords who do not comply.’

The letter follows the latest figures that shows that 28% of the UK live in private rented accommodation, and within five years the numbers of rented home occupiers will overtake the number of owner occupiers.

Deltapoll’s recent survey shows that around 40% of UK adults believe that either they and/or their children will have to live in rented homes by 2030.

Ms Brown also asked the PM to ‘encourage and play a part in the growing Build to Rent sector which has the ability to improve the lives of millions in the future’.

She said: “The newly elected government needs to start looking at ways to support the growing rental sector, demonstrating that it is a real and secure alternative to home ownership.

“Programmes aimed at getting people on the housing ladder are positive. However, the government is in danger of completely ignoring the 20 per cent of households which are private rentals.

“As the number of people renting rises and the profile of those renting changes – with more families and older people choosing to rent – we need to refocus the agenda, placing more emphasis on improving conditions for renters, including holding landlords to account for poor performance, and promoting longer more secure tenancies.”

Richard Jones, Head of Residential & Regeneration at Arcadis commented: “The Government should recognise that providing appropriate placed to live should be their focus with the growing rental market being a key element, not just home ownership.”