Buy-to-let runs on lender criteria. Find the broker who knows them cold.
First rental or fifth, BTL lending is its own world - rental cover tests, limited-company products, portfolio rules. Describe your case anonymously and vetted, FCA-regulated buy-to-let specialists put themselves forward. You choose who gets to talk to you.
Why buy-to-let is specialist ground
Residential mortgages ask “can you afford this?”. Buy-to-let asks a different question: does the deal stack up as a business? Lenders look first at expected rental income, most want rent to comfortably cover the mortgage payment under a stress test, then layer on their own rules about your income, experience, property type and how many mortgaged properties you already hold.
Those rules differ sharply between lenders. One is happy with a first-time landlord; another wants landlording history. One lends readily to limited companies; another only to individuals. One likes HMOs and flats above shops; another won’t touch them. A buy-to-let specialist broker carries that map in their head, and it changes constantly.
Where a BTL specialist earns their keep
- Rental cover, worked properly, whether the rent supports the borrowing you want, stress-tested the way lenders actually do it.
- Personal vs limited company, how lenders treat each route and what it means for the products available. (Whether a company suits you is also a tax question, pair your broker with an accountant.)
- Portfolio thinking, from your first rental to portfolio-landlord territory, where lenders assess everything you own, not just the new purchase.
- Awkward properties, HMOs, flats above commercial, holiday lets, ex-local-authority: knowing who lends on what saves weeks of dead ends.
Anonymous until you say otherwise
Tell us the shape of the deal in rough bands, no name, phone number or email needed to see your matches. BTL specialists on our vetted panel put themselves forward against your case, you compare them side by side, and your details go only to the one broker you choose. Every broker on the panel is authorised and regulated by the FCA and vetted by us first. Broker Finder is an introducer, advice comes from the regulated broker you pick.
Two minutes, in bands - no spreadsheets required yet.
See which buy-to-let specialists put themselves forward for your case.
Free to use · anonymous until you choose · your broker sets their own fees, disclosed upfront
Buy-to-let questions, answered straight
How big a deposit does buy-to-let need?
Typically larger than residential, often around 25%, though it varies with the lender, the property and how strongly the rent covers the payments. A specialist can tell you quickly whether your deposit and target property are a realistic pairing before anything formal happens.
Personal name or limited company?
Both are common and a growing number of lenders cater for company purchases. Which suits you depends heavily on tax and personal circumstances, that part belongs with a qualified accountant. What a BTL broker adds is the lending side: how each route changes the products, rates and criteria available to you.
I’d be a first-time landlord. Will lenders take me?
Many will, criteria differ on minimum income, whether you already own your own home, and the property type. It’s exactly the sort of lender-matching a specialist does daily. Answer the questionnaire honestly and the brokers who put themselves forward will be ones comfortable with first-time landlords.
Is Broker Finder really free for landlords too?
Broker Finder is free to use, whatever the case. Your broker sets their own fees for their advice and must disclose them clearly before you commit; the fee they pay us for the introduction never changes what they charge you. Only the broker you choose ever receives your details, and if none of your matches convince you, choose nobody, nothing follows you.