THE majority of UK landlords struggle to keep up with the raft of regulatory changes affecting the private rented sector.

Almost one in five landlords, that is 18.2 per cent, said they find it “impossible” to keep up with constant regulation changes, according to research.

A further 29.9 per cent said they find it “very difficult” and another 31.2 per cent find it “quite difficult”.

There are now more than 145 individual laws and over 400 regulations relating to the private rented sector.

All of this makes it harder than ever for landlords, particularly accidental landlords, to keep up with change and compliance.

The survey from property marketplace The House Shop found that just 5.4 per cent found it “fairly easy” to keep abreast and 3.6 per cent found it was “very easy”, while 11.7 per cent said it was “neither easy nor difficult”.

Experts say the survey results clearly show that landlords are being overwhelmed by the sheer volume and complexity of rules and regulations.

In fact, compliance with law and legislation was listed as the most challenging aspect of managing a rental property by 63.4 per cent of respondents.

And while using a letting agent to manage properties could remove the stress of compliance, many landlords said they simply don’t want to hand over 10 per cent to 15 per cent of their rental income to secure a full management service.

Landlords are also very wary of the fact that the cost of using a letting agent could increase even further when the tenant-fees ban comes into force in England later this year.