There's nothing like a cooling sales market for getting the rental market in a fever. The present slump in property prices is no exception, as both buyers and sellers lose their appetite for market adventure and turn to the safer rental waters - and that is forecast to continue over the next 12 months.

Teresa Wallis, the area manager at Savills in Sevenoaks, Kent, says: “The countryside lettings market has been very busy, with back-to-back viewings and lots of new properties coming to the market.”

In London it has been a similar story, although buoyant sales have kept the rental market quieter. However, that could change suddenly, as Tim Hyatt, Knight Frank's residential lettings expert, notes: “It can react by the day to economic changes.”

So it is wise to keep an eye on the rental market's fast-moving trends. Plenty of high-quality homes have been coming on the national market in the past six months. Now, as the sales market looks shakier, the number of tenants looking for those homes is growing fast. The message often heard from agents is: “If you see something you like, don't hang around.” With so many prospective tenants around, landlords and letting agents do not need to wait for ditherers. Hyatt advises that tenants be realistic about the temporary nature of renting and abandon the notion of finding “the perfect home”. However, he suggests that if you want something done to a property - such as redecoration - you request it in writing just before making your offer. He adds that it is best to avoid asking for “break” clauses that would fall in mid-summer or around Christmas time, as these periods can be difficult for landlords to fill.

When it comes to making an offer, do not expect a significant knockdown in the current climate. Landlords are now taking no more than 5 or 10 per cent off their asking prices. In some cases landlords may be asking for up to 50 per cent more than last year as a result of the higher mortgage costs that some of them now face.

Buy-to-let mortgages are generally less affected by fluctuations in interest rates than residential mortgages. Landlords in mature markets, such as wealthy areas of London, can usually absorb modest repayment increases. However, landlords who bought recently may now be overstretched. Tenants of small-time landlords in newer buy-to-let markets such as East London - Shoreditch and Hackney - may find that they have to fight to keep their rents down.

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