Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the publication Protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market: call for evidence, how many letting and management agents operate in England.

The information requested is not held centrally.

As we made clear in the publication referred to by the Rt Hon Member for Wentworth and Dearne, lettings and management agents do not have to be registered. There is therefore no official Government figure of the number of these agents that exist.