Consumer champion Martin Lewis – the man behind the Money Saving Expert website and TV shows – has backed the Renters Reform Bill.

In particular he has backed the concept of a compulsory redress scheme which individual landlords must join.

He says: “We have long needed a statutory single private rental Ombudsman – so I’m pleased to see it in the legislative plans. 

“After all, disputes are often between two individuals – landlord and tenant – rather than between companies, so it can be very personal and difficult to sort.  

“Crucially, it won’t be voluntary, all private landlords will be required to join the Ombudsman, and it will have legal authority to compel apologies, take remedial action and pay compensation.”

Meanwhile the Bill – introduced into the House of Commons today – continues to arouse controversy in Tory backbenches.

Marco Longhi, Conservative MP for Dudley North, told the Daily Telegraph that the Bill was “like wielding a hammer to crack a nutshell”. 

He is quoted as saying: “It’s a disaster. You will see huge swathes of landlords leave the market, and this has been happening for several months already.”

Longhi – a private landlord himself – says: “The government doesn’t realise how much it depends on private sector landlords. These properties landlords are now selling aren’t even affordable for the majority of renters, so where are these people going to go?”