One in five landlords say they will be forced out of business in the next two years by Chancellor George Osborne’s tax crackdown.

The new research shows that the loss of higher rate tax relief is an added cost on the already hefty burden of being a landlord.

Landlords already lose £9.9 billion to rent arrears and damage every year, and tax break cuts will put many out of business, according to the latest Landlord Report from Access Legal, a specialist in landlord law.

This follows reports that buy-to-let investors are already planning to sell up to escape the tax crackdown, which will phase out higher-rate tax relief from 2017.

The report suggests the landlord boom could be coming to an end, and follows a new study yesterday showing that landlords with standard buy-to-let properties will lose money when interest rates start rising

With “extortionate” upkeep costs, cuts to tax breaks and almost half of tenants getting away with not paying their rent arrears, even after court proceedings, a third of landlords feel that the law sides with tenants.

Three quarters of buy-to-let investors also stated that they don’t feel money is safe with letting agents, and half have dropped their letting agents to save money and avoid safety issues.

And nine out of 10 landlords resent being made responsible for immigration checks under a new government pilot scheme.

Eamonn Hogan at Access Legal said: “We work with many landlords covering tenant and landlord disputes.

“The extortionate cost of being a landlord seems to be a figure that keeps growing.

“Many landlords are subject to damaged properties and rent arrears. The law doesn’t always side with tenants, but it’s a hard process for landlords to go through and a tricky legal system.”