Landlords facing mortgage rate hike

Published: 30/09/2013

Thousands of landlords with buy to let mortgages will soon be hit by a sharp repayment rise after one lender increased its rates by 2%.

West Bromwich Building Society is poised to increase the rate on its investor mortgages in December, a move which is expected to affect over 6000 landlords with multiple properties. The changes will see repayments increase sharply; repayments on a loan of £200,000 for example will rise by an estimated £330.

Those within the buy to let industry are surprised by the changes particularly as tracker mortgages are typically linked to the Bank of England base rate which has remained, and is set to stay, at the historically low rate of 0.5% until 2016.

“This is another disappointing move from a lender which will serve to further infuriate buy to let landlords who felt secure on a specific product,” comments one broker. “It does nothing to improve the trustworthiness of lenders and shows that lenders have the power to do what they want, when they want, often at the expense of the customer’s best interest.”

There are now fears within the industry other lenders may follow suit which could leave landlords, and therefore potentially tenants, out of pocket.

Content correct at time of publication