The BTL sector is facing great change. Confirmation that landlords have until 2030 to improve the energy efficiency of rental properties is simply one more thing on top of the incoming Renters’ Rights Act, and property income tax changes encompassing the growing professionalisation of the market.

The private rental sector is becoming more stringent to operate in, and in turn, landlords are diversifying their investments and considering more complex ventures to maximise returns.

This presents lending opportunities to support landlords to improve the efficiency of homes, help them manage costs while remaining compliant and identify ways to stay in the sector through alternative ownership structures, such as limited company borrowing, portfolio refinancing, and backing more complex property acquisitions.

Lenders are not ignorant to these opportunities. Finova’s research shows that 78% are more open to innovation than they were a year ago, rising to 83% among building societies. The appetite is clearly there. 

Yet translating this appetite into action proves difficult. Lenders face many obstacles to acting on these intentions, with margin pressures affecting 35% of lenders’ innovation decisions, while 36% cite fluctuating swap rates.

But perhaps the most significant barrier is operational. 

Product development teams face a rigorous approval process. They must prove that gains outweigh risks, demonstrate sufficient market demand, and justify the cost and time investment, all while working within existing legacy systems that were not designed for rapid iteration. 

Good ideas stall and lenders risk losing their edge when competitors bring similar ideas to market faster.

This is where infrastructure becomes strategy. Having the right origination platform doesn’t just make innovation easier, it makes it possible. 

Clearly, lenders have the will to innovate, and while speed and agility are huge advantages, not all lender systems have the capacity. 

A separate origination platform allows lenders to trial and scale new propositions without disrupting existing operations. Currently, 29% of lenders already have one, while another 36% are actively considering implementation.

A major building society recently demonstrated how the right platform transforms capability. The mutual identified growing demand for BTL limited company applications, but lacked an efficient way to process them at scale. Rather than spend years building custom infrastructure or attempting to retrofit legacy systems, the mutual leveraged Finova Lending’s cloud-based platform. 

The platform’s self-service capabilities and end-to-end digital channels improved the process for both brokers and internal teams. 

The lender expanded its lending capacity in a product area it had previously struggled to serve efficiently and positioned itself to explore additional product innovations with confidence, knowing it had the infrastructure to execute. 

Finova Lending is feature-rich, including all the key components a lender needs to launch and originate specialist products, from case management and decisioning to document production. 

It also integrates with third-party services, including credit referencing agencies, companies that provide automated valuations, fraud detection and electronic ID verification to support a comprehensive fintech ecosystem.

The right solution can bridge the gap between what lenders want to do, what borrowers want and what is achievable in a satisfactory timeframe. 

Finova’s specialist origination platform allows lenders to go live in just four months, enabling faster decisioning, richer analytics, and the flexibility to launch new products at pace.

The market is always moving – at times, very rapidly – and the sooner lenders are able to adapt, the better it will be at serving the needs of landlords.

The question is not whether lenders should invest in better infrastructure. It’s whether they can afford not to.

Book a demo to see how Finova Lending can help you go live with specialist products in just four months.