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The chairman of Choices lettings and sales agents is challenging Shelter over rental sector campaigns taken up by the charity, which he says will transfer more risk to landlords, deter lenders and threatens what he describes as the precarious nature of the sector.

In an open letter to Shelter, Simon Shinerock - chairman of Choices' 10-branch lettings and sales agency - sets out a series of threats to the private rental sector which he says are contained in the charity's recent report, called A Better Deal.

One is Shelter's desire to see standard rental tenancies extended to up to five years.

Lenders are worried that if longer term contracts become the norm that they will have great difficulty realising their security .... and even if the mechanisms are put in place for them to do so, they (rightly) fear it would give them bad publicity to be throwing families into the street says Shinerock, adding the landlords also have to be persuaded that the risks involved with offering a five year tenancy are worth it, especially if they are giving up the right to say how their properties can be used and decorated and subsequently have to trust that tenants will return them in good condition.

Shinerock also disputes the basis for Shelter's recent campaigns over what it calls revenge evictions' where tenants are reportedly thrown out of their homes after requesting simple improvements or repairs from landlords.

Shelter suggests these evictions may be reduced in number if what it calls a more stable contract was introduced between agent/landlord and tenant. Shinerock disputes this.

Most of these evictions are as a result of non-payment of rent and other breaches of the tenant's contract that allow for eviction through the courts, as well as the landlord selling up, or moving back in. As all the current grounds for eviction continue under the proposals in your report, none of these types of eviction would be avoided by the introduction of the stable rental contract. I can tell you that instances where tenants leave because of a rent increase are rare and are offset by far more cases where landlords don't apply any increase to rent because they want to keep good tenants he says.

Shinrock also says the additional burdens which would be imposed by Shelter's suggested reforms may end up being the straw that breaks the camel's back - especially as the sector already relies heavily on small-scale buy-to-let landlords driven to property investment by the meagre returns on offer from traditional savings in a low-interest era.

I don't think Shelter realises how precarious the PRS really is .... The returns are tight, hence institutional reluctance to enter it. Reduce these returns even a bit, or raise interest rates by too much, and the sector could decline even if no changes are made. .... For the economic reasons I have highlighted it is not possible to place social housing responsibilities onto private landlords and expect them to carry on participating, They won't, they will withdraw as they have done in the past in the UK and other countries.

The full open letter to Shelter, and details on an online petition set up by Shinerock against the charity's report, are on the Industry Views section of Letting Agent Today and Estate Agent Today.

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