Buy to Let mortgages in the UK not to be regulated

While we are still some way away from a definitive resolution, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) exemptions being added to the European Commission's Mortgage Directive now seem to indicate that Buy to Let mortgages in the UK will not be regulated. Though these exemptions have yet to be published publicly, this news will come as a huge relief to many in the industry. Last week the European Parliament's Internal Markets and Consumer Protection committee (IMPC), one of two committees developing the directive, published its report on the EC's proposals.In a subsequent Newsletter from the CML they agreed that a uniform approach to all lending and consumers was not appropriate and confirmed exemptions would be made. In their statement they said "The UK believes it is inappropriate to regulate buy-to-let under rules designed to protect consumers and we understand that amendments have now been laid that would exempt this type of lending from regulation under the directive." In addition some of the obligations on Lenders would also be lifted such as: - the requirement to state why an application was rejected - the requirement for advice to be based on a sufficiently wide range of products should be amended so that consumers must be told if advice is only being given on a limited range In general this news will be welcomed by the industry but until the Directive is finalised there will still be a collective holding of breaths. It's good to see though that he EC has recognised the different characteristics of the Buy to Let industry in the UK and elsewhere and the different calibre of consumer to the general mortgage market. However, the Directive is not yet finalised and is due to be debated and voted on by the European parliament in the coming months.