Lord Richard Best a cross-bencher has just made known why governments have successively and regularly introduced new tax and regulatory changes into the PRS, and it is because of MP’s first experiences of having to deal with private landlords.

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The Lord is also chair of the Regulation of Property Agents Working Group, which has recommended that agents should be subject to mandatory qualification and has worked with housing trusts and associations for nearly fifty years. He said that one of the biggest changes he had encountered over his lifetime is the rapid expansion of the private rented sector.

Since the beginning of the new Millennium the private rented sector had 9% of households across England renting their homes, but has now risen to 20% of all households in the country and 40% in the largest cities, which of course includes London, with Lord Best describing the shift towards renting as “a phenomenon.”

This was all part of his speech he made to an audience at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ annual conference. He also mentioned that MPs had at one time felt it was unpopular to regulate the sector, as many were from a generation of homeowners; however as renting had risen so quickly to the detriment of owner occupiers, rental regulation was increased.

He told the attendees: “That’s because MPs for the first time came into contact with agents, landlords and the private rental sector. They weren’t very aware of it before. But as their sons and daughters cannot always afford to buy, so MPs became aware of the private rental sector - and the same for the House of Lords, in relation to their grandchildren.

“Lots of MPs and their children, and Lords and their grandchildren, have encountered the private rental sector in a way they hadn’t before. Did it go well? Sadly, for many, it didn’t.”

He explained that the ROPA recommendations were for compulsory qualifications and a strict code of conduct. He stated that the new code would be very much tougher than the one which exists with various trade organisations such as The Property Ombudsman.

He said that within the recommendations there were two key phrases which are vital” to the industry; every agent would have to be “a licensed agent” and a member of “a regulated body.”

There would be no exceptions to the rule and that the new regulations should be introduced within two years.