Landlords said the increased cost of running a property portfolio also has also driven them to increase rents.
At the same time one in five landlords claimed their arrears had increased during Q3 compared with the previous quarter.
The potential rent rises are predicted at a time when almost half of landlords have experienced rental arrears in the past three months and almost three quarters of those who have sought possession of their rental property were driven to do so by rent arrears.
Other reasons include anti-social behaviour, which contributed to nearly half of possessions.
One third of landlords said they had never sought possession of their rental property and landlords wait an average of almost four months to obtain possession and pay £866 in legal fees alone.
Mark Long, director for BDRC Continental, said: “Like everyone who owns a home, landlords face the increasing costs of maintaining property and the impact of this is clearly being felt.
“With a background of Local Housing Allowance rates being capped and a restricted amount of finance available via buy-to-let mortgages, it’s unsurprising that private sector rents are likely to increase by almost 5%.”
Paul Diggle, housing economist at Capital Economics, attributed attractive rental yields to supporting house prices.
Diggle said: “With the outlook for tenant demand universally agreed to be strong, it is surely possible that as investors attempt to lock into the attractive income returns on offer, investment buying has been helping to support house prices.”
