IT was an interesting but predictable response from Mike Stimpson of the Southern Landlords Association on past government rent controls (Letters, August 30).

What he fails to ask is why rent controls were necessary in the 1930s? Weren’t private landlords trusted to offer a fair rent to tenants?

I believe the rent controls I was talking about, abolished in the 1950s, were a different piece of UK legislation that the Tory party changed in 1980s – the time of loads of money and greed. The Conservatives at the time wanted to see all tenants’ rent rise to the highest market levels.

What Mr Stimpson forgets is that the huge problem of unaffordable rents for people is not going to go away. He says to try to become a landlord and offer a fair rent. Well, Mr Stimpson, many people such as myself are not privileged enough to become a landlord.

Ian Hunt, Pavilion Road, Worthing