Why private landlords are quitting the rental sector

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is expected to spare second-home owners and landlords from an increase in capital gains tax in next Wednesday’s budget.

However, the row between landlords and the government continues apace, amid growing evidence that years of higher taxes, higher interest rates and Labour’s new Renters’ Rights Bill is causing a sell-off which, it is feared, will lead to a shortage of properties for tenants.

According to the property portal Rightmove, the number of ex-rental properties on the market is at its highest on record — at 18 per cent of all homes for sale, up from 10 per cent in 2010.

Meanwhile, the estate agency Hamptons says buy-to-let investors now make up just 10 per cent of all buyers — the lowest

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