Taxes and regulations are knocking the life out of Britain’s buy-to-let market, with the value of mortgages taken out by landlords in March plunging by 20pc compared with the same month of 2017.

A total of 5,500 buy-to-let loans were taken out in the month, banking industry group UK Finance said, down from 6,800 a year ago.

So far this year 16,300 properties have been bought with a buy-to-let mortgage, down 11pc on the 18,400 purchased in the opening three months of 2017.