Consumer watchdog Consumer Focus has called for ‘repetitional regulation’ of landlords, via a ratings website.

It argues that repetitional regulation has worked well in other sectors with commercial sites, such as eBay or Amazon, displaying consumer reviews and feedback to people have access to a range of information before they make a decision on what to buy. Consumer Focus believes that a similar site based on constructive feedback could help solve the information imbalance and help people seek out more reputable landlords and avoid the bad ones.

This call comes as it publishes a new report, ‘Opening the door’, which argues that one of the biggest issues in the sector is that private renters often know very little about their landlords before signing a tenancy agreement.

The watchdog has written to some of the largest letting agents and deposit schemes in England calling on them to explore how online feedback could empower tenants by giving them a better insight into their potential landlords.

Claire McAnulty, policy spokesperson at Consumer Focus said: “Currently the landlord is firmly in the driving seat despite rent being a massive outgoing for many of us. People often sign up with little more than a gut feeling after a cursory tour of the property – if they are lucky