How to bring landlords back to buy-to-let

Nine years ago George Osborne, the chancellor at the time, triggered an exodus of buy-to-let investors. He changed the rules so that, from 2017, landlords would no longer be able to fully offset mortgage interest payments against their tax bills.

Since his bombshell, landlords have been selling up, squeezing supply and pushing up rents. They have sold 1,192,790 properties and bought 935,850 since 2017 — a net loss of 256,000 rental homes, according to the estate agency Hamptons.

The market is not working for landlords or tenants. Lettings agents say that the dwindling supply of homes to rent has meant years of struggles for tenants trying to find homes, with waiting lists for most types of property.

The average monthly rent on a new let