The Mortgage Works has announced a series of enhancements to support landlords who want to grow their portfolios.
The lender is increasing the maximum loan per property to £2 million for buy-to-let and limited company applications, from £1.5 million previously, and £1 million for let-to-buy, from £500,000 previously.
Maximum overall borrowing is also increasing to £7.5 million as part of The Mortgage Works’s ambition to support landlords with larger portfolios.
As part of the affordability assessment for portfolio applications, The Mortgage Works will assess properties within a landlord’s existing portfolio to ensure the ICR and LTV are sustainable.
TMW will now be splitting the current background ICR policy of 145% and will apply 125% to any properties in the portfolio owned within a limited company structure. For properties personally owned, the ICR policy will remain at 145%. The stress rate of 4.75% and maximum aggregate LTV of 75% that also apply in the aggregate portfolio policy will remain unchanged.
Dan Clinton, head of buy-to-let mortgages at The Mortgage Works, said: “This is the latest in a series of enhancements we’re making to our landlord offering. Brokers have been highlighting the need for these changes, and we have listened and delivered. As one of the country’s largest buy-to-let providers, it’s important we support landlords across their entire portfolio, and these enhancements will enable us to do just that.”
Nick Mendes, mortgage technical manager at John Charcol, said: “The Mortgage Works’ increase to maximum loan sizes and refinement of its aggregate portfolio policy are a clear show of support for professional landlords. Higher caps give experienced investors more flexibility to fund and refinance larger assets, while applying a 125% ICR to limited company holdings reflects prevailing market practice and should improve case certainty for well-run SPVs. Overall, these are pragmatic changes that align affordability and capacity with real-world portfolio management, signalling continued commitment to the professional buy-to-let market.”
