The buy-to-let boom has seen significant increases and the Council of Mortgage Lenders estimate in the last twelve months it has risen by 120,000.

Figures say that there are 1.4 million landlords in the UK, however the HMRC is highly concerned that only half a million have registered to pay tax.

The HMRC targeting landlords story has been previously reported on, however the net is now going to be widened to include banks because of the number of buy-to-let mortgages. The banks have been told that they will face stringent checks on the loans that they hand out to landlords and will, undoubtedly decrease the number of loans.

The 900,000 landlords who are not registered will be checked out by the HMRC and could face being slapped with bills for tax that they should have declared.

It is estimated that the HMRC is annually losing £550 million from the private rented sector.

It is far easier for landlords to achieve buy-to-let loans than for families and first time buyers who are finding it harder due to the new mortgage rules. The homeowners loans are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, buy-to-let loans are not subject to such strict regulation.

 

The Council of Mortgage Lenders warns that the Bank of England is now entering into the fray and is studying decisions over landlord mortgages, Mark Carney the Bank of England said that he was ‘looking closely at buy-to-let’.

The EU is shortly going to introduce new hard-hitting rules which will limit the amounts banks are able to loan to buy-to-let investors.