Landlords now face losing thousands of pounds a year as their fixed rate mortgages expire and they are pushed on to new rates that are more than double what they are used to.
Investors face a bleak choice between making enormous rent rises or selling up as high rates hammer their profit margins and mean buy-to-let properties are failing lenders’ stress tests to remortgage.
When Charlene Deane, a buy-to-let landlord near Bristol, comes to the end of one of her fixed-rate mortgages, her £930 per year profit on the property will become a £4,980 loss.