Generation Rent, the controversial pressure group campaigning alongside Shelter and others for the scrapping of landlords’ rights to evict under Section 21, claims it has public support for its demands – including from Conservative voters.

It claims three fifths of respondents to a poll it conducted agree that tenants who pay their rent and take care of their home should have an automatic right to stay in it, while 61 per cent believe that landlords who evicted tenants in order to sell or move back in should pay the tenant’s moving costs. 

The group claims only 21 per cent of respondents thought landlords should be able to evict a tenant without giving a reason.

Support for controlling rents was even higher: nearly three-quarters of respondents agreed that landlords should not be allowed to raise rents by more than the rate of inflation.

There was stronger support still for the belief that landlords should be subject to even more regulation (79 per cent) and that tenants should expect the same level of consumer protection from their housing as they would from other services, such as their gas or electricity providers (81 per cent).

The campaign group – which has been consistently opposing the rights of lettings agents and landlords in recent years – says its poll reveals that these measures would be popular across the whole population and political spectrum. 

A majority of owner occupiers (57 per cent) support tenants receiving compensation if evicted by a landlord selling up or moving back in, it says, while older voters are more in favour of rent caps than younger voters – 79 per cent of over-55s agreed with the statement compared with 68 per cent of 18 to 34 year olds.

Among people who voted Conservative in the 2017 General Election, support for limits on rent increases is 72 per cent; meanwhile 56 per cent agree that tenants should have their moving costs paid if evicted to allow the landlord to move in or sell on. 

Some 64 per cent of Tory voters disagree that landlords should be able to evict without reason – which is more than the wider population. 

There are no details of the size or dates of the polling given on the Generation Rent website.