The move comes in response to the government’s changes to the way LHA scheme payments are now being calculated.
Changes to LHA payments, which have been applied since 1 April 2011, will cap maximum LHA rates and reduce the maximum property size allowance from five bedrooms to four.
As a result, one in four private landlords reported that they had already begun to look at ways to reduce the number of LHA tenants in their portfolios and nearly a third will do so when capping affects their lettings.
Half of landlords claim they will be less likely to accommodate LHA claimants as tenants in the future.
Mark Long, business propositions director for BDRC Continental, said: “The predicted demand for privately rented accommodation has risen since the first quarter of 2011, with LHA claimants accounting for 35% of tenants in the sector.
“However, the proportion of LHA claimants has already dropped by 4% since the first quarter of 2011 and a significant number of private landlords are saying they will respond to the capping of the LHA scheme payments by withdrawing from that sector of the private rental market.
“It will be interesting to track the impact of LHA capping as it plays out across the private rental sector.”
