More than 70% of landlords who took part in the study of 501 buy-to-let investors said they have been holding off buying any new properties until there is confirmation of any tax rises to come. Just 11% have carried on purchasing new property in the run-up to the Budget.

Despite tax rises having an adverse impact on property investor confidence, the majority of landlords – 58% – still viewed BTL as the investment of choice, with just a fifth disagreeing.

Alpa Bhakta, CEO of Butterfield Mortgages said: “It is clear that landlords are keenly waiting to see what the chancellor announces.

“There has been a significant amount of tax and regulatory change in the BTL market over the past decade, and there’s plenty of speculation that more is coming – landlords are understandably wary of the implications.’

The latest government figures for 2021 showed that 43% of landlords owned one property and 39% between two and four. The largest landlords, making up 18% of the market and owning five or more properties, rent out 48% of all tenancies in the UK.

Surprisingly, just 5% of landlords own their property in a company structure, with 94% of landlords owning their properties on an individual basis.

Half of BTL landlords have stated their portfolios would stay the same over the next year, with just 10% saying they were preparing to sell, or already have in preparation for Budget announcements.

But landlords with five properties felt the opposite, with almost half – 48% – of them saying they are planning on increasing their portfolio size, this is the same for BTL landlords with six or more properties, which over half said the same.

Bhakta added: “The Budget will provide much-needed clarity, but our research underlines that lenders and brokers, and third-party experts, have a vital role to play in the weeks and months to come.

“Landlords evidently value tax and regulatory expertise particularly when facing potential widespread policy changes. Great financial products are not enough – the support, access to relevant experts and customer services must be exceptional, too.”