After spending the last year or so making changes to its criteria in order to become a broker favourite for buy-to-let, Santander has taken the final step towards becoming a major player within the sector by announcing it will now allow remortgaging with capital raising for personal use.
Santander’s change to its policy will allow remortgaging with capital raising for personal use up to 75% including property/home improvements, personal use/debt consolidation and investment including purchase of another buy-to-let or residential property.
This is a great move for buy to let and puts Santander firmly amongst the top lenders within the sector.
Not one to be outdone, one of the long-time market leaders, The Mortgage Works, announced this month that it would be applying a reducing scale of early repayment charges (ERCs) to all of its buy-to-let mortgages.
Borrowers taking out two, three and five-year fixed rates, two-year trackers and lifetime variable rates will now benefit from reduced ERCs.
Meanwhile, another major buy-to-let player, Paragon, gave the market a boost when it announced it would be returning to the Scottish buy-to-let market, with a new range of products launched at the start of the month. The products are available exclusively to intermediaries under the Mortgage Trust brand for investors in residential property in Scotland.
Paragon has always been a respected name in the buy-to-let arena but, as has been well documented, it had a tough time of it as a result of the credit crunch and withdrew from the sector as a result.
Since its return it has been a force to be reckoned with and this latest move further demonstrates its return to glory.
Finally there was some excitement when brand new lender Foundation Home Loans launched in February. The new lender is big on service but also has a fantastic product range with criteria highlights including no minimum income, maximum age of 85, up to £2,000 CCJs, up to one month’s mortgage arrears, no background affordability checks and no packaging fees.
New lenders always inject a little life and excitement into the market and, with buy-to-let currently so buoyant, things can only get better and better for the sector.
Ying Tan is managing director of the Buy to Let Club, part of The Buy to Let Business
