More landlords have exited the residential property market since the government capped rent rises and banned evictions, letting agencies surveyed by Propertymark have found.

There’s been an increase in landlords serving notice to their tenants so they can sell up, and landlords are now more inclined to raise rents in between tenancies, as it’s their opportunity to cover rising mortgage and running costs.

Within tenancies, landlords can only raise rents by up to 3% in Scotland and these restrictions will run until at least March 2024. Rents are likely to be pushed up long-term due to this landlord exodus, Propertymark said.

A Propertymark spokesperson said: “Pressure on rents remains with 50% of responding agents reporting rents increasing month-on-month on average at their branch in April 2023, while the number of properties available to rent per member branch remained stubbornly low at nine in May.”