Campaigning charity Shelter has renewed its attack on the private rental sector, claiming that 125,000 tenants have suffered abusive behaviour from landlords in the past year.

In a flurry of media releases to newspapers, online outlets and broadcasters, the charity says some tenants have had belongings burned while others have had utility services cut off in efforts to intimidate them.

Shelter also says that in the last year almost 17,000 people have called its helpline about problems with a landlord.

A survey of 3,792 people for the charity found 60 claimed their landlord or letting agent had been abusive towards them or another tenant in the last year.

Shelter has extended the findings of its survey across the English Housing Survey and Census data to come up with its estimate that more than 125,000 people have experienced abusive behaviour in a 12 month period. 

“Every day at Shelter we speak to people desperate for help because their lives are being made unbearable by a rogue landlord. No one should have to put up with a landlord who breaks the law and it’s so important to know your rights as a renter” says the charity’s spokesman Mark Cook.