The leader of Sutton Council has been branded “crass and irresponsible” after sending mock eviction notices to thousands of people.

About 15,000 people received an email, sent last week by Ruth Dombey on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, headed with the words “eviction notice” in red capital letters and “notice to vacate your property”.

The emails - sent to promote a petition protesting Conservative reforms – then explained that “thousands of people could be receiving a notice like this as a result of the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill”.

The bill aims to increase home ownership by forcing local authorities to sell some council houses.

UPDATE: Sutton Council leader apologises for sending mock eviction notices to thousands of people

But Cllr Dombey’s email was condemned by many recipients, some of whom said they feared it was a genuine eviction notice, and prompted calls for the Sutton Lib Dems leader to apologise.

Chris Norris, head of policy, public affairs and research at the National Landlords Association, said: “This is a shockingly crass and irresponsible email for any elected official to send, let alone a council leader.

“Tenants will have been given heart palpitations reading the subject line and banner, only to then find it is a party political stunt.

“Councillor Dombey should publicly apologise for what we believe is a grave lack of judgement from such a senior local figure.”

The emails are thought to have been sent to everyone on the Sutton Lib Dems mailing list.

Rachael Hardwidge, who was among the recipients, wrote on Facebook: “I understand they want people to notice, but I think it’s a very wrong way of going about it.”

Joy Robinson added: “That could be really scary. I think it will backfire on whoever sent it as many will think it’s genuine.

“It could cause someone to have a heart attack.”

A Lib Dems spokesman said the email had been intended to “deliver a strong message about some of the terrible consequences that could arise from the Housing and Planning Bill” but admitted Cllr Dombey had apologised to those who had complained.

He said: “The intention was to highlight an extremely important issue to local people with housing being one of their major concerns. It certainly wasn’t the intention to cause any alarm and she has apologised to anyone who contacted her to say they were worried.

“Only a tiny number of people did contact her to question the email whereas around 600 people signed the petition and it received a lot of very positive feedback.

Cllr Dombey could not be reached for comment.

Critics of the Housing and Planning Bill say it would not help tenants and warn first-time buyers would still be priced out of “starter homes” built on brownfield sites and sold at a discount.