Starling Bank moves into mortgages: Digital challenger snaps up buy-to-let lender Fleet for £50m as part of expansion drive Starling Bank has made its first corporate acquisition, buying Fleet Mortgages It is part of the bank’s expansion drive as it targets IPO by 2023 Starling has reassured existing Fleet customers that it won’t change the … Read more
Punitive tax changes have meant that landlords have bought a quarter of a million fewer homes in the past five years. Since April 2016, landlords have bought around 700,000 homes across Britain. This is 250,000 – or 26 per cent – fewer than they would have if the tax regime had stayed the same, according … Read more
Three in five landlords are now interested in a ‘green’ mortgage – but only four lenders are offering them, and only one on new purchases. A total of 62 per cent of landlords described themselves as ‘interested’ in the loans, which reward them for making their properties more energy efficient, according to research by mortgage … Read more
My partner and I are finally buying a new home with more space and a garden, having struggled in our one-bedroom flat during lockdown. We are in the fortunate position of being able to buy without having to sell and we have therefore decided to keep our flat as an investment and rent it out. … Read more
Landlords are seeing the choice of available mortgage deals increase as the number of products on the market rose by 233 last month alone. Mortgage options increased for the fifth consecutive month in March meaning there are a total of 2,333 buy-to-let products now available, according to the latest Moneyfacts data. This means the number … Read more
Tenants locked in deposit feuds have been awarded 50 per cent more money back than their landlords when disputes go to adjudication. Roughly one in every 30 tenancy deposits are disputed according to the Deposit Protection Service – one of the three Government-backed schemes for England and Wales. Since the start of 2018, 66,768 tenancy … Read more
Landlords could get preferential treatment when applying for mortgages if their properties are energy efficient, as lenders begin to launch new green products to the market. This week, Paragon Bank launched a new range of buy-to-let mortgages which offer lower-deposit options to landlords whose properties have an Energy Performance Certificate rating between A and C. … Read more
Credit Suisse has been thrown into crisis just weeks before Antonio Horta-Osorio joins as chairman from Lloyds Bank. The Swiss investment bank was already reeling from the aftermath of a spying scandal and its exposure to bust lender Greensill Capital. But now it has revealed it will suffer a ‘highly significant’ hit to its profits … Read more
The proportion of homes bought off-plan hit a six-year low in 2020 as landlords left the market – although there are signs homeowners may be warming up to the idea of buying a home before it is fully built. A third – or 33 per cent – of new-builds that completed in England and Wales … Read more
New rent hotspots revealed: London demand crashes as capital ‘loses its appeal’ but towns like Ipswich and Northampton see HUGE spike Demand for rented rooms fell by 40% in some parts of central London, according to Spareroom, as people no longer needed to be close to offices In contrast, renters flooded to places like Ipswich, … Read more