There is no getting away from the importance of price in the buy-to-let mortgage market, particularly after a year in which funding costs and product rates have moved in both directions and advisers and landlords have had to make financing decisions against a changing backdrop.
That focus is even more understandable when we consider the number of landlords refinancing this year, some of whom will be coming to the end of deals secured when mortgage rates were considerably lower, and for whom the cost of their next loan will therefore be a major consideration when assessing their options.
However, there are times when the attention given to price can obscure another part of the mortgage proposition which can be every bit as important, because while price determines how much the finance costs, criteria can determine whether a landlord is able to secure that finance in the first place.
When price is relatively settled
At the time of writing, swap rates have been relatively range-bound for a period and, while we have continued to see lenders making pricing changes, some of the more noticeable reductions have tended to be concentrated within mainstream product areas.
That may change, of course, because we have seen often enough this year how quickly the funding environment can move, but advisers and landlords can only work with the options currently available rather than one they hope might exist several weeks or months from now.
Once you accept that the price is the price, and that the landlord needs to secure the most suitable finance available at that point, then criteria of course becomes an increasingly important part of determining where that business can actually be placed.
This is particularly relevant in a buy-to-let market which has changed considerably from the days when the typical case might have involved an individual landlord purchasing a relatively standard property with relatively straightforward borrowing requirements.
A more specialist borrower base
Limited company borrowing now accounts for a significant proportion of buy-to-let activity, portfolio sizes have grown, landlords are increasingly considering higher-yielding property types such as HMOs and multi-unit freehold blocks, and advisers are dealing with borrowers whose personal circumstances or company structures may not fit neatly within traditional lending rules.
This means criteria has to move with the market, although that does not mean lenders should simply remove restrictions or accept risks which sit outside their appetite.
Instead, it requires us to keep asking whether individual criteria requirements remain relevant, whether they reflect the type of cases advisers are now seeing, and whether changing them could allow good-quality business to proceed without altering the underlying risk approach.
Sometimes those changes can appear relatively small on paper but make a considerable difference to a borrower who might otherwise find their options unnecessarily restricted.
Criteria should not stand still
At Fleet, we have made a series of criteria changes during 2026 which have come from looking closely at the market, the cases being presented to us and, importantly, the feedback we receive from advisers and firms.
For example, we widened our approach to joint applications involving foreign nationals, allowing applications where at least one applicant is a British passport holder, has indefinite leave to remain or settled status, while additional applicants can be considered with a range of eligible visas, subject to residency and remaining visa requirements.
We have also broadened our limited company criteria so company group structures registered across the UK can be considered, rather than requiring companies to be registered solely in England and Wales, while earlier changes during the year covered other areas where we believed existing criteria could sensibly be widened.
The point is not just the individual changes themselves, but the thinking behind them, because all lenders should be prepared to review criteria when the market provides evidence that existing requirements could be preventing otherwise suitable borrowers from securing finance.
Advisers can help shape change
This is where the adviser community has a hugely important role to play, because let’s be honest, we do not necessarily see every problem from the same perspective as you.
If advisers are regularly finding that perfectly credible cases are falling outside lender policy because of one particular requirement, then we need to hear about it, particularly when the same issue is being raised repeatedly by different firms.
That does not mean every request will result in a change, and nor should it, because criteria exists for good reasons and lenders have to remain comfortable with the risks they are taking.
However, there is a significant difference between a rule which remains necessary and one which exists largely because that is we have always approached a particular type of borrower or property. The latter deserves to be challenged.
Look beyond the rate
None of this diminishes the importance of price, particularly when landlords are trying to protect profitability and secure sustainable borrowing costs across portfolios which may contain significant levels of debt.
However, a slightly cheaper mortgage is of little use if the borrower cannot meet the criteria required to access it, just as a highly competitive headline rate means relatively little if it only serves a narrow section of the landlord borrower market.
As buy-to-let continues to become more professional, more limited company-focused and, in many areas, more specialist, criteria will need to continue moving with it. For lenders like ourselves, that means continuing to listen to advisers about the cases they are seeing and the criteria points which are preventing good business from progressing, because some of the most useful changes we can make may not involve moving a rate at all.
