Advisers are being asked to be more vigilant against borrowers’ attempts to use a buy-to-let mortgage to purchase their residential property in order to circumvent more stringent affordability rules.
Almost half of respondents to our poll (45%) said they felt lenders were being much more vigilant than 12 months ago. By contrast just 4% said lender standards had slipped on this issue.
The remaining 51% said they had seen no change.
But speaking at The Buy to Let Market Forum this week in Manchester Castle Trust’s Matthew Wyles said the whole debate around buy-to-let gaming had become “grotesque”.
He said: “If a customer decides to side step a regulated loan and waive all the rights of protection which come with a regulated mortgage then that should be their problem.
“But instead we have a regulator which is so determined to protect consumers that they protect consumers whether they want to be protected or not.”
