A leading residential property specialist has backed a Property Ombudsman's Annual Report, recommending calls for regulation of the Private Rented Sector following a rise in complaints received from the public.

"The increase in the number of complaints recorded by The Property Ombudsman is unsurprising, given that the Ombudsman covered more tenancies during 2010.However, as the Ombudsman says, the regulation of letting agents is well overdue, something we have consistently called for," said Jill Elkington, East Midlands spokesperson for the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) and Residential Letting manager for Hodgson Elkington, chartered surveyors based in Lincoln.

"The absence of regulation means the consumer is left vulnerable, with nowhere to go when there is service failure or fraud, ARLA has long campaigned for the introduction of compulsory regulation of lettings agents, along the same lines as our own member-led licensing scheme, launched in 2009. This means there are client money protection and redress schemes in place if things go wrong.

"ARLA members are required to sign up to an Ombudsman scheme, and the increase in issues being referred to the Ombudsman demonstrates the value of this to clients of ARLA members; in conjunction with client money protection, which operates in a similar manner to an ABTA bond should an agent default with clients' funds.

"We believe that the Government must look again at introducing regulation, in order to eradicate unprofessional, unqualified and unethical agents from the marketplace and increase protection for both tenants and landlords," said Jill Elkington.