A leading trade organisation has finished its yearly analysis of lettings and sales data. The research reveals that mainly down to the tenants fees ban, rents have shot up over the year; there are other factors which have also contributed, such as landlords leaving the market because of tax and legislation changes as well as the Brexit situation.

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The organisation's estate agent member branches have reported that BTL monthly managed properties per branch, increased from 187 in 2018 to 197 this year.

In March members' branches recorded an annual high of 203 rental properties on their books.

The ongoing and new tax regimes and regulation changes has seen many landlords selling up and leaving the sector at a monthly average of four per branch this year, but in April it reached a high of 5 per branch.

The organisation's members recorded the percentage of tenants that underwent a rent hike almost doubled from last year (2018) of 26% per month, to an average of 46% this year. This has almost certainly been determined by the advent of the tenant fees ban that came into effect in June, as 64% of renters were faced with rent increases in August, the highest in 2019.

The members stated that there were a higher number of renters looking to move into homes during August with an average of 76 per branch, whereas the rest of year averaged out a 73 per branch.

David Cox said: ''It’s no surprise that tenants have suffered intense rent increases this year. We predicted this would happen as soon as the Government announced a ban on tenant fees, and since the ban came into force in June, rents costs have continued to spiral.

"Additionally, due to the significant amount of legislation that landlords face, this year they have continued to exit the market, which coupled with Brexit uncertainty and the looming general election has left the sector in a state of despair. Unfortunately, next year could go the same way, unless something is done to make the sector a more attractive investment."