A sentiment survey being published later this week by a PropTech supplier suggests landlords are deeply pessimistic about the future of the private rental sector.

The study – involving some 1,500 landlords, letting agents and tenants – found that sentiment across the private rental sector was the worst ever, as a result of “a growing sense of unease and uncertainty about the future of the rental market.”

More than half of letting agents – 54% – now feel pessimistic about the PRS, while 75% of landlords are feeling pessimistic – and half of those were “very pessimistic”. 

William Reeve, chief executive of the firm that commissioned the survey, Goodlord, says: “There’s a new Government, a major piece of rental sector reform is soon to hit the statute books, and we are experiencing the most acute housing crisis in a generation. As the initial data shows, this combination of factors is engendering wide-ranging pessimism and concern across the industry, and the imbalance between supply and demand looks set to get worse, not better.”

The same survey looked at probable changes to Section 21 eviction powers and result show a hardening of sentiment. The number of agents who believe the legislation would have a negative impact on the sector has risen from 56% last year to 70% this year. 

Meanwhile this year’s survey reveals a lack of widespread support amongst tenants for mandating periodic tenancies. 

A majority (58.5%) of renters indicate they would prefer a fixed-term, renewable tenancy agreement, and just a third (30%) favouring a rolling, open-ended agreement. 

Only 15% of tenants report feeling ‘trapped’ by a fixed-term tenancy, suggesting the perceived benefits of mandatory periodic tenancies may not align with tenants’ preferences.

The figures released by Goodlord are only headlines from the firm’s full report, which is released on Thursday.