Buy-to-let mortgages should come with warnings because potential falls in house prices could put landlords at risk, a law firm has said.

Repossession specialist Moore Blatch said adverts for buy-to-let home loans should have the same conditions as other forms of investment.

Financial Services Authority rules state that promotions for investment products must warn people that the value and income from their investments can rise as well as fall.

They also have to state that people may not get back the money they originally invested.

Moore Blatch claims that because buy-to-let deals are also used as investments, people may try to claw back their losses through the courts if they think they were not told about the risk.

Paul Walshe, head of lender services at the company, said: "Forty-one per cent of investors own buy-to-let portfolios containing only one or two properties and, set against a background of a 64% increase in house prices over the last five years, many will have seen buy-to-let as a guaranteed investment.

"However, rental yields have fallen and may now not be covering mortgage payments coupled with the danger that, in the current market, they may see capital erosion.

"It is for this reason that we believe buy-to-let investment should be subject to the same regulation as other forms of investment.

"People should be aware of the risks involved when investing any sum of money, and buy-to-let is no exception."

The warning comes after a separate study said house prices will fall across half of the country during the next 18 months.

Experian is predicting values will drop as much as 4% in some areas of the UK, although other regions will see growth of 7.7%.

It claims prices in the West Midlands will fall 4%, with the East Midlands set for a 3.7% reverse.

But it expects Scotland will see 7.7% growth, London 6%, while Wales and the North East will both see increases of 3.3%

Overall, the firm believes house prices will rise by just 1.2% across the whole of the UK between the beginning of 2008 and mid-2009.

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