Three out of four buy-to-let landlords have increased rent over the past year, primarily to cover rising mortgage costs.
The Landbay survey found that a fifth of landlords were told to raise rent by their letting agent while 51% cited mortgage payments.
For 8%, the cost of property maintenance influenced them to increase the rent.
Looking to the future, 71% said they would increase the rent if their mortgage costs rose after remortgaging and 21% were not sure if they would do this. Some 8% said higher mortgage costs alone would not encourage them to increase the rent.
For those who are considering putting the rent up, 65% would increase this by a tenth. A fifth were unsure by how much they would increase the rent, 10% said they would raise rents by more than 10%.
Around 89% in the South, excluding London, would raise the rent compared to 62% in the North. For those in the Midlands, 78% would increase the rent while in London, 65% of landlords would do the same.
Rob Stanton, sales and distribution director at Landbay, said: “Higher mortgage rates when remortgaging is obviously a contributory factor to rent rises and is understandable as landlords need to cover their costs.
“For those landlords who haven’t or don’t intend to raise rent, it is generally because their mortgage costs are low or they have long standing and/or good tenants they want to keep.”
Related: Two thirds of landlords have no plans to sell property next year.
