BTL lenders shrugged off uncertainty and remained loyal to the market in September – Armstrong

Speculation has been swirling in recent weeks, but despite this, interest rates have held steady of late. Encouragingly, the buy-to-let (BTL) market remains resilient, and lenders are continuing to support customers with some brilliant updates to their product ranges.

So, while we wait to see what’s next, here’s a quick round-up of the positive developments announced in September. 

New and refreshed BTL ranges 

Fleet Mortgages has launched products in its two-year 65% loan-to-value (LTV) Standard range. These products feature £1,000 cashback and no application fee, along with different fee options to suit a range of borrower circumstances. Rates start at 3.49% for the 3% fee option. The lender has also further supported landlords with house in multiple occupation (HMO) properties by announcing a rate cut across its two- and five-year 75% LTV HMO and multi-unit freehold block (MUFB) fixed rate range. Fixed-fee two-year 75% LTV products have been reduced by 15 basis points (bps), while all other two- and five-year fixed rate 75% LTV products in the range have been reduced by 10bps. 

Market Financial Solutions announced a series of upgrades this month, including a new Core range to accommodate simpler BTL cases at lower rates. The range has a maximum loan size of £3m per property (up to £10m on portfolios) and offers rates from 5.29%. There are two- and three-year fixed and two-year tracker options available with up to 20% top slicing allowed. The lender also reduced bridging rates (now starting from 0.75% pcm, fixed, 60% LTV) and updated its Bridge Fusion tiers. 

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CHL Mortgages has completed a refresh of its BTL range, including an expansion in the number of available products, rate cuts of up to 44bps, new LTV tiers and increased fee options. Rates for single dwelling two-year fixed rate products now start from 2.24%, HMO/MUFB two-year fixed rates from 2.34% and short-term let two-year fixed rates from 2.76%. Free valuations are available on selected products across all property types, including large HMOs and MUFBs. This new range gives brokers access to CHL’s most extensive set of BTL solutions. 

Landbay released a redesigned BTL range with three simplified product sets. Premier offers competitive rates for straightforward cases and standard products for landlords with up to 15 properties in limited company special purchase vehicles (SPVs). Core offers smart solutions for portfolio landlords with options for all limited company structures, plus access to automated valuation model (AVM) products. Specialist is for complex BTL and provides flexibility for more specialised properties, including holiday lets, HMOs, MUFBs and trading companies.

Enhanced offerings 

NatWest launched purchase and remortgage products for landlords, offering a range of fee and rate options to support different borrower needs. The range includes a two-year fixed purchase product at 75% LTV priced at 3.63% that has a £3,999 product fee and a five-year fixed purchase product at 75% LTV at 3.88% with a £5,999 product fee.

West One has introduced a bespoke BTL service for more complex cases featuring a dedicated team of experienced underwriters. This is part of a wider overhaul of its BTL mortgage range. Other updates include discounted application fees for multiple loan applications, a new small HMO/MUFB range offering lower pricing for properties with up to three beds or units, broadened credit criteria to assist landlords with less-than-perfect credit and reduced rates across the range for foreign nationals, first-time buyers, expats, holiday lets and large HMO/MUBs. 

At the start of the month, Shawbrook retired its Limited Edition products in order to expand its range of Complex BTL options. Its Complex BTL products offer arrangement fees of either 2%, 3% or 5% across the range of fixed and variable rates. Shawbrook has also rebuilt its Broker Hub Calculator to help brokers compare its products more effectively and also reduced rates by up to 0.4% on Complex BTL products under £1m. 

And finally, Molo introduced a new ‘low-fee’ and ‘low-rate’ pricing structure across its non-UK resident BTL range available up to 85% LTV. This new structure offers landlords greater flexibility to choose a product that best suits their financial strategy, whether this is minimising upfront costs or reducing monthly payments. The low-fee range features one- and five-year fixed rates starting from 7.09% and two-year fixed rates from 6.99%.

The low-rate range includes a one-year fixed rate at 5.84%, a two-year fixed at 6.36% and a five-year fixed at 6.84%.