Three quarters of buy-to-let landlords (76%) have raised rent over the past year with the main reason being to cover higher mortgage costs, a survey by Landbay has revealed.
Over half of landlords (51%) cited mortgage payments and 20% said their letting agent had advised them to raise the rent. Property maintenance, repairs and upgraded work to improve an EPC rating were the reasons given by 8% of landlords.
If their mortgage rate goes up when they remortgage in the future, 71% of landlords said they would have to raise the rent.
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.”
On a regional basis, 89% of landlords in the South (excluding London) would raise rent compared to 62% in the North.