Unsurprisingly, many buyers in today's marketplace feel that those buying property to let out have an unfair advantage over the frequently usurped first time buyer.

Now the Chartered Institute for Housing in the UK is saying this has led to a crisis in affordable housing and is calling for changes in the way buy-to-let is taxed. The housing body blames the shortage on tax relief given to buy-to-let landlords on the interest paid on their mortgages.

However, landlords say that the crisis is simply caused by a shortage of new property in the UK and that ending the tax relief they currently enjoy would force many landlords out of business - perhaps in turn leading to a shortage of rental property, which in itself could be disasterous.

On BBC Radio 4's 'Money Box' program, Paul Diggory - president of the Chartered Institute of Housing - said:

"Our main concern is the acute lack of affordable housing across the UK.

"We've got many examples now in many cities where properties are being secured on buy-to-let mortgages but are being kept empty."

Empty properties do not actually get tax relief, but if they are eventually rented out the cost of the interest on that mortgage can be deducted from the rental yield before tax is calculated - this is essentially tax relief on the cost of the mortgage, which in turn costs tax payers around £2 billion a year.

Last year the number of homes sold to buy-to-let investors was around 175,000 out of the 1.3 million homes sold with mortgages. Paul Diggory commented:

"Buy-to-let owners [have] a financial advantage over those trying to buy their first home, pushing prices even higher - further out of reach. Why does the government still offer tax incentives to those who buy simply to rent?"

In response to this suggestion, the National Association of Landlords (NLA) told the programme that any changes would be disastrous. Vice chairman John Socha said that buy-to-let investors have to find much bigger deposits than owner-occupiers and also must pay capital gains tax when they eventually sell.

"Increasing the tax will squeeze out a lot of landlords, most of whom are doing it for their pensions.

"The government has said it wants a healthy private rented sector. We provide the homes that neither the state nor owner-occupation offers."

Socha did, however, agree with Diggory over concerns about empty properties.

"We don't agree with people keeping properties empty. I don't think anyone thinks that's a rational thing to do."

In response, Diggory suggested that there should be a new tax on those individuals buying and keeping properties empty:

"We would like to see some sort of new tax on homeowners who keep properties empty. We have to tackle empty homes which are such a waste of a vital resource."

Has buy-to-let contributed to the housing shortage? Is buy-to-let the reason many first time buyers cannot get a foot on the ladder? Have your say - post a comment!