From Labour’s calls for rent controls, with increases linked to inflation, to the debate on whether tenants should be allowed to have pets, there’s been plenty to talk about.
To throw my tuppence in, clearly, linking rent to inflation would have resulted in bigger rent hikes so this is not the smartest of suggestions. And yes, tenants should be able to have pets if we want to make the rental sector a long-term option for people.
Now, on to products.
New Street and Foundation
There was good news for portfolio landlords from New Street Mortgages which announced there is no longer a limit on the number of properties that can be held in a portfolio, although there is a cap on the exposure with New Street of £2m.
The lender offers rental cover from 125% starting from a 4.5% assessment rate for its five-year fixed rate.
Adding to the good fortunes of portfolio holders, Foundation Home Loans announced some new buy to let five-year fixed rates with £500 cashback, exclusively for portfolio landlords.
Along with the cashback incentive the products feature a 1% arrangement fee, are available up to 70% loan-to-value (LTV) and come with rental calculations of 145% of pay rate for individuals and 125% of pay rate for limited companies.
Paragon and TMW
Meanwhile Paragon introduced its specialist portfolio underwriting for experienced landlord customers looking for funding of £5m or more.
The corporate buy-to-let mortgage credit team will provide intermediaries with a large ticket, buy to let portfolio business solution for their experienced landlord customers.
Elsewhere, The Mortgage Works introduced a new range of 50% LTV, two- and five-year fixed products, including its lowest ever five-year fixed rate of 1.99%.
The range includes new two-year fixed products with no fee starting at 2.14% and new five-year fixed products starting at 1.99%, with selected five-year fixed rates reduced by 0.15% to 2.04%.
