Chris Norris, chief policy officer of the National Residential Landlords Association, said landlords were feeling “nervous” and hoped for more clarity from the government.
“They don’t really know what will happen in the minority of cases where tenancies go wrong,” he added.
Mr Norris said many landlords would now screen tenants more carefully.
“We’re going to have to look very, very carefully at what the risk is of those new tenants and that’ll be to do with their ability to pay the tenancy, their background, whether they’ve got county court judgments against their name, whether they’ve had a good experience of renting in the past.”
He added that these reforms would put more pressure on the court system – for those wanting to challenge evictions or rent increases – and questioned whether they have capacity to do this.
Landlord Maureen Treadwell said landlords were “losing confidence” and described the bill as a “slow car crash”.
She feels the bill will “backfire” on tenants and disproportionately affect those at the bottom of the private rental market.
“I have lovely tenants who I’ve taken a chance on and they’ve turned out to be great,” she says.
“Would I do that now? No. If they can’t meet the affordability targets – absolutely not.”