Although Bank of England has managed to keep its base rate at the lowest ever of 0.1 per cent, however landlords are still left shelling out more for mortgages.

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Angus Stewart, chief executive of an online specialist broker says there are many PRS landlord’s buy-to-let mortgage rates increasing slowly but surely despite the decision reached in the monetary policy committee meeting.

Stewart says: “Lenders think that sooner or later the era of record low interest rates will come to an end.  I am afraid that the starting pistol on rising rates has already been fired.

“A rising interest rate environment for landlords will increase costs and knock confidence in the sector. Landlords have seen a raft of tax and regulatory changes that have chipped away at the profitability of their businesses. 

“But this hit has been largely masked by very low interest rates. This is no longer the case, and we must brace ourselves for the smaller players in this market to decide that being a landlord no longer makes sense for them. Inevitably, this will lead to a shortage of rented accommodation and higher rents.”

Many experts are predicting that there could be a base rate increase as early as December, which will have a far greater effect on the PRS rather than the home owning market.

It is believed that approximately half of owner occupied homes’ mortgages are already paid up, whilst 75 per cent left have their payments kept unchanged until their deals end.

Around two million owner occupiers opted for standard variable rate mortgages or tracker mortgages so their payments will increase in line with the mortgage lenders’ rises after the Bank of England made its announcement.

Any rate rise for landlord mortgage repayments which currently are higher than the base rate can only mean one thing for tenants with rent increases ‘shouldering’ the burden.