Newly agreed rents have leapt up across England in the wake of landlords exiting the market and the tenancy fees ban, while the average time it now takes to let a property has fallen to just 20 days – a record.

In Wales, where the ban is to be implemented on September 1, new rents have also jumped.

There has also been a rise in new rents in Scotland, where a fees ban has been in place for some time.

According to referencing firm HomeLet, the only English region where newly agreed rents have gone down is the north-east. However, the fall is just £1 – from £530 in June to £529 in July.

The biggest monthly jump in newly agreed rents in July was in Greater London, where there was a 3.4% rise to £1,665.

The biggest annual rise in new rents was the south-west, with an increase of 4.5%.

In the UK, excluding London, average new rents went up 1.7% in July compared with June. The average newly agreed rent is now £959.

Different data from Countrywide shows that in the first seven months of this year, the average time between instruction and acceptance of offer fell to just 20 days.

This was three days quicker than in the same period last year and the shortest time since Countrywide began its records.

Every region recorded a fall in the time it took to let a property.

Countrywide, which issues its monthly rental index through Hamptons said: “Falling stock levels (down 5% in the year to date) combined with increasing applicant demand (up 5.6%) have caused the fall.”