Ed Miliband outlined plans for a register as a measure to increase security of tenants and identify rogue landlords during a speech on Saturday. He suggested the UK was “in danger of having two nations” divided between homeowners and those who rented.

However, Residential Landlords Association chairman Alan Ward said the previous Labour government had estimated the cost of such a measure to be £300m: “Imposing such a charge on the private rented sector would amount to a further tax on landlords and tenants when we need more homes and people across the country are feeling squeezed.”

He called for local authorities to boost the skills of environmental health officers and enforce the hundreds of existing legislation, regulation and individual measures affecting the sector: “The problem is not a lack of powers, but the willingness and ability of local authorities to enforce their existing powers whilst under financial pressure.”

The Buy to Let Business managing director Ying Tan said while he understood where Miliband was coming from, extra regulation was not necessary: “They want to mitigate the effect of rogue landlords but we already have quite a lot of regulation in place.

“It would be extra bureaucracy and red tape.”