Paradigm launch portfolio landlord lender criteria factsheet

02 August 2017

Paradigm Mortgage Services, the mortgage services proposition, has today (2nd August 2017) announced the launch of a new factsheet covering all available buy-to-let panel lenders’ portfolio landlord criteria, in light of the PRA underwriting changes which are due to take place from the 30th September.

A number of lenders have already announced how they will approach portfolio landlord lending and this factsheet will be updated as more follow. From the 30th September the PRA has defined a portfolio landlord as one who has four or more mortgaged buy-to-let properties.

Paradigm’s factsheet contains a range of matrix-based information on each lender’s portfolio landlord underwriting policies so as to provide a document that advisers can use to cross-check and compare.

Information included in the factsheet covers:

How the lender defines a portfolio landlord.
Whether the lender allows portfolio landlord applicants and whether it has a specific scheme for them.
The number of allowable buy-to-let properties with the lender and elsewhere.
Document requirements and the range of additional underwriting that will be carried out.
The lender’s rental assessment calculation, what additional rental checks there are and whether the lender will ‘top-slice’ income.
Appropriate dates for the lender’s introduction of its portfolio landlord criteria and any further dates.

To accompany this, Paradigm has also produced a rental calculation document which shows all those lenders on the Paradigm panel and their current rental calculations and ICR stress tests.

The factsheets will be kept up to date on the Paradigm Mortgage Services website, and can be viewed by clicking on the countdown clock on the home page: www.paradigmmortgages.com

John Coffield, Head of Paradigm Mortgage Services, commented:

“There is now less than two months until the PRA’s underwriting changes for portfolio landlords are brought in and we are starting to hear from lenders about how they intend to approach the new rules. At the time of writing we have just a handful of lenders who have come forward but we anticipate more will follow in the coming weeks.

“There’s no doubting that some of the announcements and detail already provided are quite confusing, particularly when a lender states that they will accept applications from portfolio landlords but when reading the details it’s obvious they have no intention in playing in the complex market of portfolios and limited company transactions.

“This adds a level of complexity to an already difficult marketplace to advise in, and Paradigm wants to provide advisers with easily-comparable data in this area. This is why we have produced our matrix factsheet which includes details on each of our lending partners’ intentions and how they intend to underwrite a portfolio landlord case. We will be updating this document on a weekly basis as more lenders ‘go public’ and will be advisers members when new information is added.

“The next couple of months and beyond look certain to provide advisers and their portfolio landlord clients with some tricky situations and arrangements to work through – for further support in this area we would urge Paradigm members to review all of the documents provided and to contact our mortgage helpdesk if they require more detail.”