A letting agency has come under fire for sending an email to tenants suggesting that a vote for Labour could cost them their homes.

An email signed Belvoir Peterborough and Cambridge, sent out in the week of the general election, outlines its view of the consequences of a Labour government. The agent is one of many Belvoir franchises around the country.

The email states: “As a letting agent, we are not interested in promoting any particular political party, but do feel that it is important to alert you, as a valued client, to the potentially damaging outcomes of Labour’s proposed policies. These are policies that will be extremely detrimental to you.”

It goes on to detail possible outcomes of Labour’s plan to abolish fees for tenants. The party has pledged to outlaw fees charged just for signing an agreement, as well as introducing limits on rent rises and longer-term tenancies.

“Whilst at first glance this might sound as if it is a good thing for tenants, I can assure you that it will have the opposite effect. Should tenant fees be abolished these costs will be passed to the landlord and if this happens there is a very strong possibility that many landlords will either increase rents to recoup their costs or they will withdraw from the market and sell their properties.”

Later, it warns “there is a very strong possibility that you, and thousands of other tenants, could lose your homes and find it almost impossible to source another rental property because the supply of good quality accommodation will dry up”.

This is an outrageous scaremongering tactic Alexander Hilton, Generation Rent

The email concludes: “We urge you to fully consider the impact that Labour’s policies will not only have on the private rental sector nationwide but also to you and your family before deciding who to entrust with your vote on 7 May.”

Peterborough is currently a Conservative seat, while Cambridge is held by the Liberal Democrats, but both are Labour targets.

Sam Dawson, who passed the email on to the Guardian, said it appeared to be “essentially scaremongering [tenants] into voting Tory”.

Dawson, who is not a tenant with the agency, added: “As someone who has found themselves effectively plunged into the red for years by barely justifiable up-front rental costs, even as a well-paid professional, I found this email distasteful.

“I dread to think how a hard-up low-paid parent might think. They’re essentially being coerced into voting in their landlord’s, rather than their best interests.”

Belvoir Peterborough and Cambridge said it had received a press release from central office and was given the choice whether to send it out to clients.

Alexander Hilton of the campaign group Generation Rent said: “This is an outrageous scaremongering tactic by a letting agent, abusing their position of power over tenants.

“All the assertions are false; it is despicable that agents profiting from housing people in insecure, degrading and overpriced accommodation should scare tenants into supporting their continued exploitation.”

David Cox, managing director of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, an industry trade body, said agents were not breaking any rules contacting clients in this way.

“Being party political may not be perceived as being the sensible and done thing by some businesses, but other businesses actively support a particular party,” he said.

“As a professional body, Arla does not support a specific political party and we regularly engage with the main parties on issues that impact the sector. The newsletter raises an issue that we have previously spoken out about – scrapping letting agent fees is a legitimate concern for the sector.”

Earlier in the election campaign, estate agent Knight Frank was accused by a Labour candidate of trying to influence results by sending out a flyer warning about the impact of the mansion tax.

