Family Building Society is looking to release a limited company version of its offset buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage to support more landlords with their finances.
Announced at the Mortgage Solutions Buy to Let event, Paul Roberts, business development manager (BDM) at the mutual, said its existing offering for individual landlords was “bypassed as a product” when it first launched because rates were so low at the time.
Roberts said: “Now, more and more advisers are starting to look at this as just another tool in the box for borrowers to potentially use similarly to bridging finance, [to] help them refurbish properties.”
It allows borrowers to offset up to 100% of the mortgage amount, and this can be done to reduce the mortgage term or payments. This option can be changed no more than once in a calendar month.
Roberts said it enabled landlords to move money “backwards and forwards” to be used for many purposes such as refurbishment or to buy properties at auction, then later topped up again.
He said the mutual was just a “little building society” trying to “change the game” and “change the market just that little bit” by offering “something extra to you and your landlords and something different to always doing the same old, same old.”
Roberts added: “We’re likely to launch a limited company version, so there will be a standard buy-to-let offset and limited company offset.”
Innovation in the market
Asked about The Mortgage Works’ low-cost further advance product for green refurbishments, Adrian Scoates, corporate account manager, said this was another area in the market where people thought they “knew where this was going” until the current government rowed back on proposed energy-efficiency requirements on households.
He said Nationwide’s 0% alternative for residential homeowners had “not done a huge amount” of business, even though “it is a very good deal”.
Scoates said people were not rushing to use it, although there were advantages for homeowners. However, he said those benefits were “not as obvious to landlords”.
Roberts said Family Building Society did not have plans to introduce a similar product, saying this was why the mutual offered an offset mortgage, as it gave borrowers another funding line.
Shekina is the deputy editor at Mortgage Solutions and commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions. She has nearly eight years of experience in the B2B publishing market, having previously covered the hospitality, retail, pet, accounting and jewellery sectors.
Shekina has worked for Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions for almost five years. Here, she covers the market’s breaking news stories, engages with professionals in the sector, and oversees any commercially agreed content in partnership with mortgage-related companies.
This includes presenting webinars and hosting roundtable discussions on developing themes in the mortgage sector.
She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and was nominated for the Headline Money Awards Mortgage Journalist of the Year in 2021.
In her spare time, Shekina likes to read, travel, listen to music and socialise with friends.
She currently reports on current events in the mortgage market and liaises with financial clients to produce sponsored content.
Follow her on Twitter at @ShekinaMS
