A trade body has sent a letter to Sadiq Khan the mayor of London suggesting that he is deliberately ‘stoking tensions’ between tenants and landlords, which of course the media circus was only too delighted to jump on the landlord bashing bandwagon.

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The correspondence was sent to the mayor because of a recent press release released to the media from Khan’s office earlier this month, which included such incendiary statements as, “one in four of London’s private renters are struggling to pay rent,” as well as predicting as fact that, “a devastating tsunami of evictions” will be faced by London’s tenants.

The trade body argues that by suggesting every London renter falling behind with their rent will be undoubtedly facing eviction is “unnecessary scaremongering”.

It also outlined in the letter that from its own surveys 95% of tenants in London are paying their rent as normal of which 12% have agreed with their landlords deferred payments, or a reduction in rent.

The trade body urges Khan to put a stop to the anti landlord rhetoric and instead look at promoting a partnership between himself and tenants.

The author of the letter writes: “As you know, the new court rules to come into effect when they begin to hear possession cases from 24 August provide an added incentive for landlords to seek to reach agreement with tenants about how to handle rent arrears without seeking to repossess a property.

“In light of the above, I should welcome an urgent opportunity to discuss with you and your team how best to proceed in a spirit of co-operation rather than hostility.”

Richard Merrick of PIMS said “To some it may seem that there is indeed an ongoing partnership between Sadiq Khan and Generation Rent of agreeing a timetable for sending out anti landlord press releases that are wholly devoid of any factual evidence to back up their accusations.

“Unfortunately PIMS cannot possibly comment on this viewpoint.”