The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has lambasted the Government for failing to update its Private Landlords’ Survey for the past six years.
If it had done so, the CML believe it may have had a ‘better understanding’ of the requirements of the private rental sector.
Resist reforms
Communications manager at the Council of Mortgage Lenders Bernard Clarke feels that the Government needs to resist with further reforms affecting the buy-to-let market.
Writing in a blog on the CML website, Mr Clarke said that landlords have yet to fully take in the series of tax changes that come into force next Friday-the 1st of April.
In addition, Clarke believes that buy-to-let lenders are extremely diverse, so will not be suited to the Government’s ‘one-size fits-all’ regulatory regime.
CML lambasts Government for out of date information
Limits
Mr Clarke went on to say that proposed legislation will allow the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee to put limits on buy-to-let loan LTV ratios. He also said that the Committee would be able to impose limits on interest cover ratios, which assess rental income relative to the total overall cost of the mortgage.
‘We believe that (tools to control buy to let lending) should only ever be used with great sensitivity and preferably only after consultation and the publication of analysis and assessment of the likely effects,’ Clarke observed.[1]
[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/3/mortgage-lenders-tick-off-government-for-out-of-date-lettings-info