Responding to a new Bank of England forecast which predicts that average monthly payments on buy-to-let mortgages will increase by around £275 by the end of 2025, Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “Growing mortgage costs are putting responsible landlords in an impossible position. Either they leave the market at a time when demand for rented housing is already outstripping supply, increase rents, or soak up growing costs which many simply cannot afford.

“Whilst help has been provided for homeowners in the form of the Government’s Mortgage Charter, nothing has been done to support the private rented sector.

“It is vital that ministers step in to protect the market from the impact of growing costs. For renters, housing benefit rates need to be unfrozen without delay to ensure they can cover their rent payments. Alongside this, tax hikes on the sector need to be scrapped to boost the supply of homes to rent that tenants desperately need.”