How much can I borrow?

Buy to Let mortgages

Buy to Let mortgages apply to those who have a property that they wish to let out to a third party tenant. Many people do this as a type of long term investment.

These type of mortgages differ from your ordinary residential mortgage and there are a lot of factors that must be taken into consideration before you consider taking on a buy to let mortgage. This will be new territory for you and the concept of taking on a buy to let mortgage poses a whole set of different questions such as:

How much can I borrow for a Buy to Let Mortgage?
How much should the deposit be?
What rental income do I need?
What are the best deals and rates on the market?
What is the criteria to obtaining a Buy to Let mortgage? Is it a fixed criteria or ever changing?

There are also a range of buy to let mortgages from exclusive offer buy to let deals to fixed and variable options.

There are also key differences between these type of mortgages and ordinary residential mortgages. For example, the interest rates tend to be higher as lenders are fearful that a tenant will not look after the property as the homeowner would so the increase covers the element of risk involved. The deposit is also much higher and can be anywhere from 15-25% as lenders want to see the larger contribution coming from you at the outset. In relation to the rent-the rent received must also be over 125% of the monthly mortgage payments. There are also more tax matters to take into consideration. Lending criteria is stricter than before and may also pose additional restrictions. It is a lot to think about!