It is suspected that the rise of so-called 'reluctant tenants' will exceed the quantity of rental property.

The surplus of rental property will reduce as the demand rises over the coming years, the Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla) said.

Research among landlords showed that more than 50 per cent of agents think that people are being forced to rent.

Reluctant tenants included homeowners who were forced to sell last year because of financial instability or a change of career.

Ian Potter, operations manager at Arla, said: "Many people now in a position to buy are struggling to find the right property, as there is also a shortage of both properties for sale and realistic mortgages."

In the last quarter of 2009, 41 per cent of letting agents said there were more renters than properties, a rise of nearly 20 percentage points on Q3.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders recently urged the government to withhold from regulating the buy-to-let market.

People who are looking to move house may be interested in using self storage facilities