Tenant eviction firm, Landlord Action, says the Airbnb model is posing a growing threat to landlords.

Over the last 12 months, the number of cases Landlord Action has received, where tenants have sub-let properties without their landlord’s permission, has trebled.

The firm warns that aside from breach of tenancy agreement and additional wear and tear to the property, landlords are left exposed to being in breach of their mortgage terms and buildings insurance.

It says that the sharing economy is a growing phenomenon, with models such as Airbnb giving people a platform to act as a business, renting out rooms in rental properties – often sub-letting in large scale, and without the landlord’s or agent’s knowledge.

The problem is due to be highlighted tonight on the Channel Five programme ‘Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords’ at 9pm.

The episode will show Joy Philips, a landlord who decided to let out her West London home so she could afford to take time out to volunteer at an orphanage in Africa.

Philips thought she had found the perfect tenant in a young doctor who wanted her home for a three year lease.

It all seemed very promising until she started receiving emails and calls from her neighbours complaining about the volume of people coming and going at her house.

She was shocked to discover that her house was not being used as a home for the young doctor, but being rented out room by room on the Airbnb website.

Making thousands over the rent being paid to Philips, her tenant was breaking the no sub-letting clause in her contract.

By having so many people in the house, Philips’ home insurance was also at risk of being void. She was forced to give up her volunteer work in Africa to return to the UK and call in Landlord Action.

Shamplina said that the growing use of Airbnb by tenants without their landlords’ permission was a trend that needed to be stamped out.

He said: “In one recent case, it was thought more than 300 people stayed in a property in one year, unknown to the landlord.”