Fears that higher Stamp Duty charges on BTL purchases might destabilise the market have so far proved unfounded according to the April HomeLet Rental Index.

HomeLet’s figures show that rents agreed on new tenancies across the UK over the three months to the end of April have continued to grow at remarkably consistent rate.

The Index reveals that rents on new tenancies signed on a UK rental property outside of London over the three months to April 2016 were, on average, 5.1% higher than in the same period of last year. That was barely changed from March’s figure of 4.9%, with rent rises having remained in a very narrow band since the beginning of the year.

In the capital, meanwhile, rents on new tenancies signed over the three months to the end of April were 7.7% higher than a year ago, the third successive month that London has registered this rate of increase.

The latest figures show that rents in Scotland are currently rising faster than anywhere else in the UK, with new tenancies costing 11.4% more than in the same period a year ago.