Landlords will make tenants bear the brunt of increased buy-to-let taxation, an authoritative report has found, arguing that with housing in short supply landlords can - and will - pass on any increase in costs to their tenants.

Building society Kent Reliance found that 40pc of landlords expect to raise rents in the next six months by an average of 5.6pc.

Three quarters of landlords planning to increase their rents blame the Government's increased taxation of the sector, it said.

Such an increase would be dramatic, as average rents over the past 12 months have risen by less than 4pc.