A new five-year private rental contract should be introduced to give people living in the squeezed sector greater stability, a UK charity said last Friday.

A better deal should be offered

Shelter said that a new type of tenancy called the Stable Rental Contract should become the norm across the rental market in England to help tenants put down roots and give landlords greater certainty over returns.

It suggested that under the five-year contract rents should increase in line with inflation each year, giving tenants and landlords predictable outgoings and incomes.

Shelter said the contract should also include flexible terms so that tenants can leave after two months’ notice and landlords should be able to end the tenancy if they want to sell the property or evict bad tenants.

The call came as a separate study found that private rents soared for the fifth month in a row in August to reach a new high, amid renewed pressure caused by a wave of graduates entering the market, which is already facing strong competition, with would-be buyers struggling to get on the property ladder.

Shelter said that a generation of people who have been “locked out of home ownership” should be offered a better deal.

It found that over the last 15 years, the number of people renting their home from a landlord has almost doubled to 8.5 million people in England, with nearly a third of renters being families with children.