The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association all agree that lobbying to exclude buy-to-let and bridging loans from the European mortgage directive remains “robust” despite concern over Britain’s diplomatic relations in Europe.
AMI director Robert Sinclair said: "I am sure that the consistent force of messages being delivered via the industry through a range of lobbying mechanisms will still have impact.
“Whilst the events of recent days will redefine our government’s relationship with Europe we remain convinced that democratic principles will continue to apply and we will have our concerns fully considered by the Commission and Parliament."
Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the Building Societies Association, said he was confident David Cameron’s veto of a new treaty to impose tough budgetary constraints in EU countries, shouldn't have any impact on the UK's ability to lobby in Europe.
He said: “The UK is still represented in the parliament by a large number of MEPs and is a key member of the Council of Ministers.
“It also holds a number of key positions in the European Parliament’s committees and will be fully engaged in the negotiations about the final shape of the mortgage directive.”
Broadhead added that since the UK is Europe's largest and most mature mortgage market there is a wealth of data and evidence in terms of what does and doesn't work in terms of regulation that Europe can learn from.
But the CML was unsure whether Cameron’s move last week would have an impact on Britain’s political capital in Europe when lobbying on the mortgage directive.
A spokeswoman from the CML said: “The EU veto may make it more difficult for the UK to lobby on the European mortgage directive.
“But our arguments, specifically against buy-to-let being regulated through the directive and the Key Facts Illustration being replaced by the European Standardised Information Sheet remain robust.”
Buy-to-let
Industry pundits remain concerned there is a strong will within Europe to regulate buy-to-let as well as bridging secured on residential property under the EU directive, despite strong lobbying by the Treasury and UK parties to keep them outside the directive’s remit.
But Sinclair believes lobbying on these issues will still carry weight in Brussels.
He said: "Clearly our concerns around bringing bridging and buy-to-let within scope of a directive remain and we will continue to lobby to minimise the impact of current proposals."
And Broadhead added: “It's too early to say what the key elements for negotiation will be next year but it is clear that the Commission and probably a large number of other member states, would like to see buy-to-let captured under the directive.
“At UK level the industry, Financial Services Authority and government agree that it is not appropriate that buy-to-let is captured under the directive and there will be no let up of our position on this as the process continues.”
