Tenants face ‘bleak future’ unless landlords are helped to offset rising mortgage costs

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Ballooning mortgage costs will make an already tight rental market even harder for tenants seeking affordable homes to let, landlords have warned.

Their representative body the NRLA has published research that shows nearly two-thirds of landlords, based on a survey of nearly 800, have at least one buy-to-let mortgage and that among these a third must remortgage over the next 12 months.

Based on Bank of England (BoE) predictions that higher intertest rates will see their BTL mortgage costs climb by an eye-popping £175 a month, something the NRLA says will make an already serious supply problem in the rental market worse.

The BoE also recently said this mismatch between the demand for, and supply of rented housing, is in part a consequence of higher borrowing costs. This is already pushing up prices. The Office for National Statistics today revealed that rents continue to rise significantly across the UK.

Chris Jenkins, its Assistant Deputy Director, says: “Rental prices continue to increase at pace with the largest annual percentage change since UK records began in 2016.

“London’s rental growth continues to pick up with the strongest growth for over seven years.” 

Portfolio shrinkage

Despite the strong demand, 30 per cent of landlords told the NRLA that they plan to cut the size of their portfolio this year, the highest level of planned disinvestment seen in more than six years.

Read more: How to cope with losing mortgage interest relief on your mortgage.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the NRLA, says: “It is time the Government stepped in and accepted calls by the NRLA, the [recent DLUHC] Select Committee and others for tax measures to encourage the supply of homes to rent.

“Without this, renters face a bleak future as finding somewhere to live becomes increasingly harder.”

Read more stories about landlord mortgages.

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