The latest Bank of England base rate increase will serve only to increase the pain on landlords, it’s been claimed.

This is the fifth rise in successive months and takes base rate to 1.25 per cent.

Angus Stewart, chief executive of online buy to let mortgage broker Property Master, says: “All the members of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to increase the base rate last month, and three of them went for a half point rise then. Since that time there has been no let-up in the inflationary pressures we have seen in the economy so it looks as if the Bank has decided to continue to slam on the brakes.

“Our own tracker of the buy-to-let fixed rate mortgage market shows landlords even before this news are paying up to £133 per month more for a typical mortgage.  

“Given that the Bank of England’s own forecasts have talked about the base rate rising to 2.5 per cent by the middle of next year there is a lot more to come. For some landlords it may well be worth paying an early redemption fee now to exit their current fixed rate if it is already near the end and lock in a deal now before rates move upwards again.”