The buy-to-let (BTL) market experienced another challenging year in 2024. A combination of upcoming legislative changes and ongoing affordability pressures tested lenders, brokers and investors.

Those honoured with Top Rated and Rated for Service in Mortgage Finance Gazette’s accolades deserve recognition for their dedication to the industry, having revitalised the sector through innovative new products and criteria, and by supporting investor diversification.

This year, a total of 36 lenders were assessed in this category, with nine receiving the Top Rated for Service honour and nine earning the Rated for Service recognition.

All Top Rated for Service lenders this year had received the same accolade in the previous Rated for Service survey, highlighting their consistent strength within the sector. However, there was some movement in the Rated category, with Bank of Ireland, Barclays and Paragon Mortgages making an appearance after missing out the year before.

Building societies and their subsidiaries didn’t perform so well this time, possibly indicating a shift in strategy or market focus.

Among the top 18 lenders, the highest score came from their product offering, highlighting the importance of a strong product range in the BTL market and brokers’ clear appreciation of it.

In contrast, technology received the lowest score by a significant margin – a recurring trend that suggests there is still work to be done in this area by some lenders, particularly in improving user experience.

Overall, scoring for the Top Rated for Service lenders was more consistent than for those in the Rated for Service category, with fewer fluctuations across the board.

Achieving recognition across all three categories – mainstream, specialist and BTL – is no small feat. Yet three lenders – Bank of Ireland, Kensington Mortgages and Kent Reliance – managed to earn either a Top Rated for Service or Rated for Service accolade in each one.

Please see the buy-to-let lender dashboard below.

All the data for the Mortgage Finance Gazette Rated for Service 2025 is now accessed via a dashboard. All the ratings data for each lender category, and all the rankings data for each assessment area, is available from the past three years. Lenders’ performance in any of the five assessment areas can now be ranked from highest to lowest across the entire lender panel for each year, and filtered based on broker type and case load.

This year we have also added factor analysis for each lender category, so brokers will be able to benchmark their chosen panel of lenders against the average score for each assessment area (max. of five lenders).

The dashboard brings an unprecedented level of clarity to lender service levels for the broker community. We’d like to hear your feedback in the comments section below, or email piers.johnson@emap.com.

To display the full dashboard please click here

Please click on the cover below to see the print supplement of Mortage Finance Gazette Rated For Service 2025.