According to research from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), the figure is up from 19 months in Q1 2012 and represents a record length.

The majority of ARLA agents (56.9%) report more tenants looking for homes than there are rental properties available.

ARLA believes this is compounding the trend for staying put as stiff competition discourages tenants from moving, in turn reducing the number of vacancies on the market.

There has also been a steep fall in the number of lettings agents reporting an increase in properties coming onto the market because they can’t be sold – from 42% at the end of 2012, to just 29% in Q1 2013.

Ian Potter, managing director of ARLA, said:

“Our data suggested that tenants are increasingly sitting tight in their property and either reluctant, or unable to move. This stagnation means fewer and fewer properties are freed up.

“We know that many tenants renting with ARLA member agents are ‘frustrated first-time buyers’ so it will be interesting to see if the recently announced Government initiatives such as ‘Help to Buy’ will impact upon these numbers.”