Of the 200 landlords who participated in the study, 81% believe the current market conditions and demand threaten to allow unscrupulous landlords to do harm to the BTL market.

This comes as 75% of respondents believe that, in light of the current supply/demand disconnect, tenants are having to be less fussy or demanding about their rental homes.

Some 57% of landlords claimed that tenants are willing to pay higher rents to secure tenancies, and 69% said tenants have accepted unplanned rent increases.

In addition, around 55% of landlords stated that tenants will accept higher bills for utilities.

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Moubin Faizullah Khan, CEO at GetGround, said: “With recent history as our guide, it’s easy to imagine how the PRS could be brought into disrepute by bad actors: disproportionately high rents, unexpected bill increases, unfairly terminated tenancies and so on. 

“Landlords and tenants alike need the right protections and safeguards to ensure none of this poor behaviour is able to happen, particularly as high mortgage and energy costs continue to put even more pressure on landlords to find means to stay solvent.”

Ben Beadle, CEO at the NRLA, added: “GetGround’s snap poll data highlights a perfect storm that’s coming, combining the increased cost of living with rising rents. 

“That rents continue to rise is due to the impact of a lack of supply and record demand in the PRS — this is very much a problem of the government’s own making.