This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
The buy-to-let mortgage battle has taken another twist with the news that a leading lender is to increase the maximum age of a borrower at the end of a mortgage term to 85 years old.
Fleet Mortgages say that they are to change their age from 75 in the face of the more relaxed pension laws. They argue that will pensioners now having the ability to use some or all of their savings for one-off purchase, such as a property, then there will be more numbers of retirees wishing to invest in the buy-to-let market.
Having only started to lend to borrowers at the back end of last year, Fleet have stated that since the launch of the product, almost 50% of their clients have been aged over 50. During the first quarter of this year, the firm received £145m worth of buy-to-let revenue in their system, with loan sizes for all products totalling £245,000.
Buy-to-let mortgages for 85 year olds
Bob Young, chief executive of Fleet Mortgages, believes that the change in maximum age shows their support for embracing change. Young said that his company is committed to, ‘evolving and enhancing our criteria in order to ensure it is fit for purpose in a changing marketplace-this is why we have increased our maximum customer age at the end of loan, up from 75 to 85 years old.’
Continuing, Young said that, ‘we recognise, for instance, that people are living longer, that landlords want to hold their properties longer into retirement plus there is a growing appetite amongst people over 50 wanting to invest in property.’
