Britain's falling home ownership rate blamed on buy-to-let small-time landlords

London

THEY have pocketed some of the most lucrative returns available to investors in recent decades and been a staple of newspapers' personal finance pages, but tougher times now lie ahead for Britain's army of small-time landlords.

So-called buy-to-let (BTL) investors - who usually own at most a handful of properties - have enjoyed 20 years of surging house price growth and rents, and annual returns of nearly 10 per cent.