Renting your old flat or building your portfolio?
We can help you find buy to let mortgages.
Where Should I Start?
Take the time to fully understand what is involved
With a lot of recent legislation governing buy to lets, it is essential to take the time to fully understand what is involved before taking the plunge. From tenancy rules to taxation, there is plenty to consider before buying a rental property.
What Else Should I Consider?
From tenancy rules to taxation, there is plenty to consider
Know your costs. With higher stamp duty to pay, as well as higher deposit & fees for buy to let lending, and taxation on interest payments, it is important you are confident this is a cost-effective investment.
Before you invest, fully understand your legal obligations as a landlord. Health & Safety regualtion, your obligations on repair costs as well as new legislation around energy efficicieny guidelines will be an additional obligation you need to adhere to.
How Can We Help?
We treat our customers fairly, providing quality professional and independent advice
Did you know most buy to let mortgages are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority?
At Asset Plus we offer the same standards to our buy to let clients as those expected by the FCA regulation for residential clients. We will always ensure we treat our customers fairly, providing quality professional and independent advice.
Your Home (or property) may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other debts secured on it.
Landlords need to continually manage their portfolio.
Regular mortgage reviews and access to equity for repairs future purchases. make a mortgage adviser a key team member.
Where Should I Start?
Reviewing the mortgages on each
of your properties
Regular management of your portfolio should include reviewing the mortgages on each of your properties to ensure you’re not paying too much. Managing the equity tied up in your portfolio can help fund future purchases too.
What Else Should I Consider?
Timing is important for landlords with property portfolios
When can you remortgage? Do properties require renovation or repair? Can you afford to do that with the money in your business or do you need another loan? Forward planning is key to running your portfolio effectively.
How Can We Help?
A good mortgage broker is like having an extra team member on your team
We build great relationships with our landlords, and we provide an all-round service, including working with your accountants and letting agents.
Your Home (or property) may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other debts secured on it.
Knowledge / Understanding / Quality / Aspiration
These 4 key principles underpin all our dealing our philosophy and how we deal with all our customers. Asset + is committed to continual development to maintain and improve your client experience.
KNOWLEDGE Industry Experts
Did you know our team of advisers not only requires industry-regulated qualifications to provide advice, but must complete regular continual professional development to prove their industry knowledge is up to date?
We don’t stop there – we ensure that training is rolled to our administrators too, and encourage them to sit the regulatory exams to further their own development and bring on the next generation of qualified advisers!
UNDERSTANDING Understanding You
We need to know a lot about you.
That includes your financial history so we can see what is affordable and who would consider lending to you.
Then we’ll talk to you about the future so we can help you plan ahead. This means we get to know you really well and become part of your team to help you achieve your dreams.
QUALITY Service Moving with the Times
We use the latest technologies to help us deliver great customer service, and help you send us information and documents quickly, easily and securely.
But technology isn’t everything – it’s really important to us that you can speak to your mortgage adviser on the phone, on a video call or in person whenever you need to – no queues, no call centres. Just your own friendly adviser.
ASPIRATION Dreams into a Reality
We believe in dreams. We know they can come true! And our job is to help you find the way to finance your dream home and future lifestyle.
Whatever you are dreaming about, if it’s property-related, we can help. From your first home to becoming a landlord and even protecting your business, we’re here to be your partner along the way.
Buy to Let mortgages mean buying a property where you will not live in, but in fact rent/let it out. As with a residential mortgage, it’s your responsibility to meet the mortgage repayments each month, even when you receive no rental income.
The main difference is that with a buy to let mortgage, how much you can borrow is based on how much rent the property will generate, as opposed to residential mortgage that look at your income and outgoings to assess how much you can borrow.
With a tenant in and paying rent, the rental income should cover the cost of the mortgage, but good contingency planning is required to ensure if property is empty or requires renovations that mortgage payments can still be met.
Costs include Lenders valuation and arrangement fees, solicitor costs and possible property management fees. In addition, recent changes have seen additional stamp duty now payable on second properties, so careful planning before becoming a landlord is advisable. Speaking to Asset Plus before jumping in can provide you with full information based on your own personal circumstances.
The minimum is 15%, however to get the most competitive mortgage rates a 25% deposit is recommended.
The income you receive from your buy to let is taxable and should be declared through your self assessment tax form. The tax on your income is then charged in accordance with your income tax banding (20% for basic rate taxpayers, 40% for higher rate, and 45% for additional rate).
You are able to reduce your tax bill by offsetting certain costs associated with maintaining a rental property against the rental income that you receive. These costs can include:
• Mortgage interest (but not capital repayments).
• Ground rent and water rates.
• Fees such as letting and management fees, accountant and legal fees.
• Costs of property repairs and maintenance.
• A 'wear and tear' allowance for furnished properties.
• Buildings and contents insurance.
The Summer Budget in 2015 introduced changes to the amount of tax relief that is available for interest on buy-to-let mortgages. Landlords paying higher (40%) or additional (45%) rate tax could claim tax relief at their highest rate, but the Budget changes mean that tax relief will only be reclaimed at the basic rate (20%), whatever rate of tax the landlord pays.
So, if you're a landlord who only pays basic rate tax, this change won't affect you, but if you pay at 40% or 45%, you'll be losing out. The available tax relief will reduce over the subsequent three tax years and will be fully in place by 2020/2021.
For further information you can download out Tax guide for buy to let investors, however, you would be well advised to get specialist tax advice from a qualified accountant before proceeding with any changes to buy to let investments.
UK residents pay portions of stamp duty dependant on the purchase price of the property. The first £250,000 is charged at 3%, the next charge between £250,001 and £925,000 is 8%, above £925001 and £1.5 million is charged at 13% and over £1.5 million will be £15%. Your solicitor will calculate your actual costs on the purchase of the property.
If you have read through some of the criteria for buy to let mortgages already, you are beginning to see it is not straight forward. Our experts at Asset Plus have over 25 years experience in dealing in the market and keeping abreast of all the changes. In addition many lenders, knowing the complexity of this market, will only accept business through qualified mortgage brokers, therefore to be to shop across the whole of this market it pays to speak to Asset Plus.
Before rushing in to purchasing a “bargain” property that you think you can do up and rent, be aware there are some properties that can be difficult to get a mortgage on. Flats above shops, high rise tower blocks, properties with structural damage are just some examples that may not be easy to mortgage.
The key to good property hunting is to do your research before buying. By thinking about who would rent it, young families, commuters or students, and what would make the property have a strong rental potential, perhaps, good transport links, it’s vicinity to a university or good schools, can help you find the best properties for your investment.
Yes – subject to lenders underwriting. It may be sensible to take advise from a suitably qualified accountant. We can refer.
Lenders underwriters prefer professional referenced tenants on assured shorthold tenancy.
We can provide introductions to lettings agents, who will explain the process and costs in detail.
The main criteria lenders look at when assessing a buy to let mortgage is the achievable rental income.
No – we can offer first time buyer but to let mortgages.
Protecting your investment is as important as getting the best mortgage. Buildings Insurance, Landlords Insurance and Rent Protection are all available to discuss with Asset Plus.
We can even help you switch from a residential mortgage to a buy-to-let should you be moving out but want to hold onto your property.
Not really – We can provide a new mortgage for people up to age 84.
What our customers say…
Very helpful in dealing with a nervous agent/vendor and updating on progress
"I was trying to complete my mortgage directly with the bank and had little or no progress and a drip feed of requests over 2-3 weeks. Asset Plus was recommended to me by a colleague. It was time and money well spent as they really put a lot of effort to help with recovering the time wasted with the bank resulting in an amazingly quick turnaround.