Buy-to-let – to help your application run smoothly

Purchasing or re-mortgaging a buy to let mortgage offers a myriad of choice, understanding some key aspects of lender criteria can help keep you on the right track.

One route to getting into buy to let can be from a starting point of residential ownership.

If you change path and decide that, rather than sell, you would like to keep your former home and rent it out, it is important you conclude the selling journey before you make a buy to let application.

Lenders will not accept a buy-to-let application if a property is listed for sale.

If a property is discovered for sale post-valuation, you could stand to lose valuation fees if an application gets rejected as a result.

It is of course entirely sensible to establish what your options are in terms of a buy to let mortgage, before finalising a decision to take this route.

You might choose to do this whilst your property is still up for sale, which is a reasonable thing to do.

Make sure an application is not proceeded with until your property has been taken off the market.

Contact your estate agent(s). Check your property has no ‘for sale’ board outside and that it is no longer on the estate agent(s) website or any property comparison sites they may have published the details on.

On April 1st, 2018, new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards became law in England and Wales, meaning that, unless exempted, a landlord has to ensure their rental property has a minimum Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E, before any new tenancy could commence, either for existing or new tenants.

A valuer will typically look at the EPC rating of the property, as part of their assessment and will report their findings back to a lender. Make sure that the property you are mortgaging has at least an E rating, as the ability to generate rent is negated if you are not permitted to let it.