Lenders announce changes to open up products to more landlords

Bank of Ireland for Intermediaries has removed its £25,000 minimum income requirement for buy-to-let and increased its maximum loan size by £500,000 to £1.5m
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The move is part of a raft of changes by the lender designed to make its products available to more customers, including buy-to-let landlords.

The lender is also increasing its upper age limit for residential customers to 75, while loan-to-value loans on new build homes or the first sale will increase 5% to 85% and by 5% to 80% for new build flats.

Self-employed applicants now only need to provide the last two years’ figures, as opposed to three years previously, to verify income.

“We’re thrilled to announce a host of lending criteria changes to make us more accessible and open up our products to more customers,” said Bank of Ireland for Intermediaries director of sales Alison Pallett.”

Paragon has launched a range of new fixed rate products for those seeking to make fresh buy-to-let acquisitions as well as remortgage existing properties in their portfolio.

The lender’s new five year fixed rate loans include rates of 3.75% for buy-to-let investors borrowing up to 75% loan-to-value (LTV), with interest coverage ratios from 125%.

The range also includes a two year fix at 3.25% for lending up to 65% LTV and another at 3.4% for lending up to 75% LTV.

John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, said: “The first quarter is an extremely busy time in the buy-to-let market as landlords review their portfolios and plan for the year ahead.

“The tax changes being introduced in April make it more important than ever for landlords to think ahead and minimise costs where possible.

“These products offer landlords the opportunity to put in place longer term mortgage finance, whilst taking advantage of the beneficial impact of today’s record low market rates.”


Landbay has launched a range of new buy-to-let products aimed at professional landlords, including expats and those with HMOs.

The products, available up to 80% loan-to-value (LTV), include a standard term tracker at 3.88%, a HMO tracker at 3.98%, and an expat term tracker at 4.38%.

The new tracker products will be available exclusively via the peer-to-peer lender’s approved broker partners: Atom, Brightstar, Complete fs, Connect Mortgages, Mortgage for Business, The Business Mortgage Company, The Buy to Let Business.

Landbay recently changed its criteria to require a minimum income of £25,000 for those employed, or the equivalent of £40,000 from expats.

Its minimum property values were also revised and are now £80,000 for standard properties and £150,000 for HMOs.

Paul Clampin, chief lending officer at Landbay, said: “The buy-to-let market is set to become more complex in 2017, as landlords face an increasingly intricate lending landscape and tighter regulation. It’s in such a context that borrowers and brokers need solutions that meet their changing needs, so these new products have been designed to do just that for the growing number of professional landlords.”

All new products use pay rate to make initial ICR calculations, however Landbay runs an underlying affordability calculator to ensure that, as a whole, the application meets a minimum ICR of 125% at 5.5%.

“As landlords move to navigate this complex environment, so too must lenders ensure that affordability calculations are robust, and in line with the rest of the industry. This is why we have chosen to refine our ICR calculations,” he added. 

Virgin Money launced a new two-year fixed rate buy-to-let mortgage at a borrowing rate of just 1.59% a year.

The mortgage has a loan-to-value rate of 60%, £1,995 product fee and £500 cashback.
In addition to the new buy-to-let product, Virgin Money also launched a two-year fixed rate 2.84% residential mortgage available at 90% LTV, with no product fee and £1,000 cashback.

Virgin also announced a five-year fixed rate up to 65% LTV at 1.89% per annum. This mortgage comes with a £995 fee, £300 cashback for purchases, free valuation and legal fees for remortgage.

Peter Rogerson, Virgin Money’s commercial director for mortgages, said: “To kick off the year we have launched a new range of red hot mortgage products that offer competitive rates to help homebuyers get onto the property ladder, support those looking to move home and a great deal for landlords.”