Advisers have a key role to play, says lender
As pressures mount on property landlords due to challenges in the rental market, increasing numbers are struggling to restructure their portfolios, reports an executive at a specialist lender.
Alex Upton (pictured), managing director of specialist mortgages & bridging at Hampshire Trust Bank, says feedback from brokers has encouraged it to rethink how it supports investors, particularly at a time of change. Mortgage advisers will continue to play a key role in the process, she emphasises.
“The market is shifting,” Upton told Mortgage Introducer. “Demand for rental property is still strong, particularly outside London, but landlords are under more pressure than ever. The Renters’ Rights Bill is bringing that to the surface. Section 21 is ending, tenancy structures are changing, and expectations around property standards are rising.”
These factors are influencing the way property investors decide to manage their portfolios and shaping their long-term plans within the market, acknowledges Upton. “Some landlords are choosing to exit,” she observed. “Others are seeing it as the right time to restructure. That’s where brokers play a vital role. Clients need advice, funding, and support to make informed decisions about what to hold, what to improve and what to let go. This is where structure matters.”
She continued: “Most portfolios aren’t uniform. They include a mix of asset types, tenancy situations and timelines. We kept hearing, directly from brokers, of the same challenges - clients struggling to restructure because of affordability constraints, early repayment charges limiting movement, or product choices that didn’t reflect what was really happening inside the portfolio.”
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Helping brokers lead the conversation
HTB has responded with a new structured facility, Portfolio Edge, which combines term and bridging funding within a single loan, for professional landlords managing more complex portfolios, and aiming to support more strategic decision-making. “The term element supports the properties a landlord wants to retain,” Upton explained. “The bridging element provides flexibility for those they plan to sell. This gives clients the ability to reshape their portfolio without being rushed into decisions or penalised by exit charges. For brokers, it’s a way to lead that conversation - it helps landlords move forward, not just react. It reflects the conversations we’ve had with brokers who are close to their clients and understand the pressures they face.”
The lender has also recently increased its maximum lending per borrower to £35m, which again reflects a shift in the market, according to Upton. “Landlords are becoming more professional, and their portfolios are growing in both size and complexity,” she reasoned. “To support them properly, lenders need to be comfortable with scale and consistent in their approach. Raising our cap to £35m makes it easier for brokers to keep the relationship with one lender. This isn’t about headline numbers. It’s about making sure we can stay with the right clients over the long term. The larger the portfolio, the more important that continuity becomes.”
HTB’s approach comes against a background of challenges for the sector. A recent survey of 882 landlords, conducted for the National Residential Landlords Association, found that 83% cited the possibility of increased Capital Gains Tax on the sale of rental properties as their top concern. The NRLA data also showed that 53% of landlords were worried about the proposed Renters’ Rights Bill. Meanwhile, 73% of respondents said they were concerned about the requirement for existing rental homes to meet energy performance certificate band ‘C’ by 2030. The same proportion expressed concern about the standard being extended to new tenancies from 2028.
And in recent days, Propertymark – an industry body for property agents – has urged the UK government to implement upcoming energy efficiency rules for rental properties on an individual basis, warning that sweeping measures could place undue pressure on landlords and destabilise the rental market. Responding to a government consultation on proposed changes to the energy efficiency regulations, the organisation highlighted feedback from 350 property professionals and roundtable discussions across England and Wales. The consultation, led by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), seeks to revise regulations governing how landlords improve the energy performance of rental homes and includes potential changes to the Energy Act 2011.
