I have read with interest the item from Ian Hunt (The Argus, August 20). In it he suggests control of private rents should be reintroduced.

Mr Hunt mentions that such control was applied in the 1930s. Had he checked the true situation he would have known that rent control was only lifted in 1988 following massive reductions in the amount of privately rented accommodation available, directly as a result of the unrealistically low rents landlords were able to charge and yet still be responsible for the maintenance of the properties. There are still a significant number of regulated rent tenants who pay rents which are assessed on a fair rent basis by the Rent Assessment Panel.

Should any form of rent control be imposed by any government in the future, private landlords will withdraw from the market in significant numbers. In fact, most political parties accept this to be the case.

What Mr Hunt has omitted to mention is that Local Housing Allowance is available to any tenant who does not earn sufficient money to pay the full rent. What he also omits to mention is the high cost of purchasing housing and that landlords are entitled to a fair return on their investment.

For the information of readers, the private rented sector is now the largest rented sector in the country and provides vast amounts of accommodation to all types of tenants.

Instead of condemning or trying to control private landlords, Mr Hunt would do well to try purchasing buy-to-let properties and letting them at what he calls affordable rents. He would then appreciate the folly of his suggestion.

Mike Stimpson, Director, Southern Landlords Association