Portfolio buy-to-let criteria need not deter brokers

Criteria accuracy and interpretation are now two of the more serious issues facing brokers today. Perennial concerns like service, free legals and keeping abreast of regulatory requirements rumble on.

Portfolio buy-to-let criteria need not deter brokers

Jason Hegarty (pictured) is founder of CriteriaHub

Criteria accuracy and interpretation are now two of the more serious issues facing brokers today. Perennial concerns like service, free legals and keeping abreast of regulatory requirements rumble on.

However, the most immediate issue of portfolio landlords is symptomatic of a wider need for greater clarity around lender criteria generally.

Changes to buy-to-let criteria around landlords with four or more properties and the ability to make sense of limited information in many cases and contradictory oral advice when calling individual lenders, is making life difficult for advisers and is one of the biggest problems we are hearing from brokers who sign up with us at Criteria Hub.

Changes brought on by regulatory requirements do take time to bed in and lenders are trying to provide clarity.

However, mortgage specialists need more certainty that when they approach a lender and receive a DIP.The application is not then turned down because of contrary interpretation of buy-to-let criteria for portfolio landlords.