Charlotte Edwards is in the final stages of securing her eleventh buy-to-let property in three years. Business, she says, has never been better.

Her strategy is to buy former council homes or Victorian terraced houses in need of renovation and then to add as much value as possible. Three years ago she stopped buying properties because everything seemed overpriced, but she thinks the market has started to turn.

“Right now is a better time than ever to grow my portfolio,” said Edwards, 40, who is from Oswestry in Shropshire. “When there’s so many landlords leaving the market, that’s when the buying opportunities come up.”

Edwards is bucking the trend. Over the past eight years landlords have sold more homes than they have bought. There were