It may seem as if governments and councils are falling over themselves to change the private rental sector to win the support of tenants – but that appears to have backfired.

Research from the office of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, shows that private renters are less likely to register to vote than other demographic groups. 

The analysis of the electoral roll and housing in London found boroughs with the highest numbers of private renters having some of the capital’s lowest levels of voter registration.

For example, Westminster and Tower Hamlets have large private rented sectors, at 40 per cent and 33 per cent of households respectively. But both boroughs have below-average levels of voter registration at 64 per cent and 77 per cent of adults.

In contrast, in Havering only 11 per cent of households rent privately and 96 per cent of adults are registered to vote.

The Mayor’s office says that analysis is backed up by national estimates from the Electoral Commission which show that 94 per cent of owner-occupiers are registered to vote, compared to just 63 per cent of private renters.

The office says some 27 per cent of London’s private renters moved in the last year, compared to just five per cent of social renting households and three per cent of owner-occupiers.