Around two-thirds of landlords plan to increase rents to cope with recent tax increases on the private rented sector according to a new survey of almost 3,000 private sector landlords carried out by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA).

The survey also found that the same proportion do not plan on purchasing any additional properties for their portfolio. Nearly a third of landlords are considering leaving the market altogether. This is despite predictions that 1m new homes to rent will be needed by 2021 and evidence showing that institutional investors in the rental market are not delivering the homes needed.

With the majority of landlords (56%) planning to increase rents in the next 12 months to offset the impact of changes to mortgage interest relief, the policy will most negatively impact families, with 63% of landlords reporting letting to tenants with at least one child.

There are also likely to be cutbacks in raising the standard of existing properties with 58% saying the tax rises will hit their plans for investment in their properties.

Recent tax changes have included restricting the payment of mortgage interest relief to the basic rate of income tax, an extra 3% stamp duty charge on the purchase of homes to rent and taxing landlords’ income and not their profit.