The body believed that with the myriad of different strands currently influencing the market and the potential for future regulation to be forced upon the sector, it believed the time was right to organise something which protected landlords and consumers.
The NLA believed that a registration or licensing scheme could be introduced to provide such self-regulation and Steven Hilton, media relations manager at the NLA, insisted that the body must take the lead.
He said: “We are getting to the stage where we need to look towards some kind of self-regulation and whether it is a registration scheme, like in Scotland, or a different system, the NLA must take the lead.
"The private rented sector is growing and it is now having a massive impact on the housing sector so something must be done by the industry before the government does.”
Hilton believed that while some landlords might not welcome regulation in any form, it was necessary to head off any attempts to implant a statutory regime on the sector.
Jeremy Law, head of BTL at Mortgage Express, commented: “Regulation has a role to play in life but it is all about solving issues.
"There is already a degree of regulation through things like Houses in Multiple Occupancy legislation which has looked at issues which needed addressed.
“However, more broadly, I struggle to see what needs to be done and we don’t want a situation where landlords are put off because of the increased workload.”
