Brighton and Hove is known for rogue landlords such as Nicholas Hoogstraten and Mohammed Raja. One is serving ten years in jail for the manslaughter of the other.

There are plenty of other landlords who feel they can play games with tenants in a city with an acute housing shortage.

One problem is landlords who keep deposits as tenants move on, when there is no reason for them to do so.

Now, Kemp Town MP Des Turner is calling for a deposit scheme to be run by an independent housing ombudsman.

This scheme has already been tried out as an experiment in the city, with encouraging results, but not enough landlords volunteered to take part.

The trouble was that the rogue landlords most likely to keep hold of the money did not want to join.

Having the deposits held by an independent body would encourage both good landlords and good tenants.

It would also ensure that where there was a dispute, it would be settled fairly and promptly.

The average deposit paid these days is more than £500, which is a lot of money for private tenants, not normally wealthy people, to lose unfairly.

A compulsory scheme would be easy to run and would stop what is becoming a widespread fiddle.