A PLEDGE by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to introduce rent controls has met with disapproval from the industry body for letting agents.

Commenting on the news from the Labour Party conference, David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark, said: "The Labour Party clearly hasn’t learnt the lessons of history. The last time rent controls existed, the private rented sector went from housing 90 per cent of the population to just seven per cent."

Mr Cox said that "whenever and wherever" rent controls were introduced, the quality of available housing dropped, and conditions in privately rented properties "deteriorate dramatically".

"Landlords, agents and successive governments over the last 30 years have worked hard to improve the conditions of rented properties and this is like taking two steps backwards," he warned. "Rent control is not the answer – to bring rent costs down we need a concerted housebuilding effort to increase stock in line with ever-growing demand.”

Meanwhile, tenants continue to face rising rents, says the Association of Residential Letting Agents.

The number of agents who saw landlords putting up rents rose to 35 per cent in August - the highest level since July 2015. Just two per cent of tenants successfully negotiated a rent reduction.

Demand from prospective new tenants increased slightly in August.

Meanwhile, the number of landlords selling up their buy-to-let properties remained the same as May, June and July this year, with an average of three for sale per letting agent branch.

Mr Cox said: "This month’s findings paint another bleak picture for tenants. In November last year, only 16 per cent of agents saw landlords increasing rent costs, but that figure now stands at 35 per cent - which is likely to continue rising.

"Landlords have had a rough ride at the hands of policy changes at government level, and it’s becoming clear that these additional costs are now being passed onto tenants."