Almost half of private tenants wouldn’t be able to afford up to a 5% increase in rent, research has revealed.

A YouGov poll by classifieds site The House Shop found that 42% of private renters would be unable to cope with even the smallest rise despite many landlords considering increases due to extra stamp duty charges and the end of mortgage interest relief.

More than 1,000 renters and mortgage holders were asked to estimate the minimum percentage that their monthly mortgage or rent payments would have to increase before they became unaffordable.

Even an increase of up to 1% would be unaffordable for 16% of private tenants, while just 3% of home owners said this would be a struggle.

Mortgage holders were more able to absorb larger increases in monthly payments, with 24% saying monthly mortgage payments would have to increase by more than 20% before they became unaffordable, compared to just 7% of private tenants who said the same of their monthly rent payments.

Nick Marr, co-founder of The House Shop, said: “We all know that the rental market is highly competitive right now, and tenants’ budgets are already stretched to breaking point. Therefore the prospect of any further rent rise is a real concern, and as our research shows, even a relatively minor increase in monthly rent payments could push tenants over the edge.

“This demonstrates that there is a ticking time bomb in the private rental sector, and with the number of people renting from private landlords already at a 30-year high we could quickly find ourselves in a very precarious position with wide-ranging consequences for both tenants and landlords up and down the country.”