More than one million households who receive housing benefit will have to find extra cash to pay their rent to private landlords from next year.

If the cannot find the money they will evicted or forced to move.

Chris Norris, policy manager for the National Landlords Association, said: “Landlords will have to look at their profit and loss and decide how much they can afford to cut their rents by.

“If they are not going to do that, they will have to seek non-housing benefit tenants or sell up.”

Figures from the Valuation Office Agency, obtained by campaign group Shelter, show that households in area in the country will be affected by the cuts, which will be introduced in two stages, in April and October next year.

The shortfalls range from thousands of pounds a month for a large home in London to as little as £5.60 a month for a two bedroom home in the north west of England.