Landlord groups have asked the government to postpone April’s cut to mortgage interest relief in order to help property owners hit by the financial impact of coronavirus.

They have also asked buy-to-let lenders to be lenient towards landlords as their tenants may struggle to make rent payments.

In a joint statement the Residential Landlords Association and the National Landlords Association is urging its members to be as flexible as possible with tenants who are struggling to make rent payments, but asked the government to pause the forthcoming cut to mortgage interest relief for buy-to-let borrowers and speed up Universal Credit payments to help tenants stay on top of their housing costs.

The groups say: “We are encouraging all landlords to work positively with tenants to provide support where needed throughout this difficult period.

“Landlords should be as flexible as they can to help tenants facing payment difficulties resulting from the impact of the coronavirus.

“To support landlords in this we are calling for a package of measures from Government and mortgage providers. 

“This includes a temporary scrapping of the five week wait before Universal Credit claimants get their first payment, pausing the final phase of restricting mortgage interest relief to the basic rate of income tax and ensuring lenders look sympathetically on requests by landlords for mortgage payment holidays where their income is being affected through reduced or non-payment of rent.”