Over half of private renters (55%) think the government should introduce rent controls, putting them at odds with the majority of landlords.
The poll was conducted by campaign group Generation Rent, while it comes after more than half (55%) of tenants experienced rent increases in the past two years.
Meanwhile some tenants have questioned the quality of their properties, with a third (34%) saying they’ve had maintenance issues that weren’t fixed, and 30% reporting mould in their home.
Dan Wilson Craw, deputy chief executive of Generation Rent, said: “The election is a huge opportunity for renters to use our democratic voice to call for better renting.
“We urge anyone who has moved home since the last general election to make sure they’re registered to vote by Tuesday night.”
The Green Party and Plaid Cymru are in favour of rent controls, while the Liberal Democrats said they wanted to ensure rent can only increase by a fair amount each year, which they described as ‘rent smoothing’.
Scotland has controlled rental increases via its ‘rent cap’, but that has led to landlords hiking rents at the start of tenancies, as rents have risen by 10.9% annually in the country.
Under the rent cap rules the amount that rent can be increased by depends on the gap between the current rent, the market value of the home, as well as similar rents in the area. The maximum possible increase is 12%, but it’s unlikely for landlords to be able to hike rent by that amount.
In March the Scottish government unveiled plans introduce longer-term rent controls in the Housing (Scotland) Bill, though no such measures have been detailed in its manifesto.
Some 8.1% of renters are registered to their old address in the general election, likely because tenants move more often.
Dan Wilson Craw added: “The election is a huge opportunity for renters to use our democratic voice to call for better renting.
“We urge anyone who has moved home since the last general election to make sure they’re registered to vote by Tuesday night.”