As buy-to-let becomes more specialised, networks are increasingly translating broker concerns into lender action
Buy-to-let advisers are operating in a market that looks markedly different from the one that existed a decade ago. Tax changes, higher affordability requirements, shifting landlord behaviour and growing regulatory pressure have all changed how cases are structured and placed, while landlords themselves have become more commercially focused in how they manage portfolios.
For Danny Belton (pictured top), head of TMG Club and partner strategy at The Money Group, that shift has also changed the role of networks. Rather than directing advisers on how to write business, networks are increasingly acting as a bridge between brokers and lenders, helping advisers navigate complex criteria while feeding emerging issues back into product and policy discussions.
“There have been a number of changes over the last 10 to 15 years,” he said, pointing to higher interest coverage ratio (ICR) requirements, tax changes and increased stamp duty costs for landlords. “The days of the dinner party landlords, those who invested in one or two properties, seem to have dwindled quite a lot.”
The changing buy-to-let market
Belton said landlords had become more commercially focused over the past decade, driven by tax changes, higher affordability requirements and increased pressure on yields. The market, he said, had shifted decisively towards limited company and SPV borrowing, while advisers were now dealing with a broader mix of specialist property types including HMOs and multi-unit blocks.
He also pointed to changing investment patterns within the sector. Some landlords were favouring newer properties with stronger EPC ratings, while others were looking beyond southern England in search of higher returns as yields in London became increasingly compressed.
Despite sustained policy and cost pressures on landlords, Belton said the rental sector remained firmly established within the wider housing market. “It feels like there was a move to try and reduce the amount of properties within the rental space and move more towards home ownership which hasn’t really happened,” he said. “Rental is definitely a tenure here to stay.”
For advisers, that shift had created a markedly more specialist market than the one many entered earlier in their careers. “When I first started in the industry a lot of the business was very much in a single property buy-to-let, fairly vanilla,” he said. “But today this is very, very different.”
Helping advisers navigate complexity
Belton stopped short of saying networks were directly shaping adviser strategy, arguing that many buy-to-let advisers had already developed significant expertise in specialist lending. Instead, he positioned networks as a support structure designed to provide consistency, education and closer access to lenders as cases become more complex.
He said most networks still encouraged advisers to follow regulated processes even where buy-to-let business fell outside formal regulation, arguing that consistency helped advisers manage increasingly specialist workloads.
That support now extended beyond compliance oversight into helping advisers navigate lender criteria that could not always be fully reflected through sourcing technology. While systems had improved significantly, Belton said some specialist lending nuances still relied heavily on adviser knowledge and lender relationships.
As a result, advisers were increasingly combining sourcing tools with peer discussion and direct lender engagement. “We are seeing more and more complexity within buy-to-let,” he said. “Let’s make sure that our brokers are not feeling they’re on their own.”
Shaping lender conversations
Belton said one of the most important functions of a network was identifying recurring issues from advisers and using those conversations to influence lenders.
“If we start to see a consistent theme of those queries, then the networks should be working with their lenders to actually say, well we’re now starting to see this sort of trend,” he said. “Is there a way we can amend or create new criteria to help those customers?”
He said advisers often identified market friction points before networks or lenders did, making broker engagement increasingly valuable. Belton pointed to previous discussions around foreign national lending as an example of how adviser feedback could ultimately influence lender criteria.
“We had enough noise and enough awareness of challenges to actually make a change,” he said.
For Belton, that process will become more important as buy-to-let continues to evolve. Advisers, he said, needed confidence that networks were maintaining close relationships with lenders, understanding product direction and helping ensure lenders remained reliable long term.
