Buy to Let Property and Management
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Buy to Let Property and Management (Part 1)
Marcus Robinson and guest podcaster Ben Giles from Balloon Lettings discuss Buy to Let management. Episode one of two, recorded in March 2026.
What should I consider when choosing a Buy to Let property?
Marcus: We’re coming at this from the finance side, where we always look at the rental you could gain – whether that’s a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) or a standard single let, for example.
Leading on from that, what type of tenant will you want? Are you going to let to students, professionals, or will it be social housing? These dictate where that property will be – location is really important.
Plus, it isn’t just about the tenant. If you’ve got to manage that property – perhaps if you’re not using a letting agent – is it close enough for you to access?
You also need to consider the purchase price, because you generally need a 25% deposit.
Something that can be an issue with some lenders is buying something close to or above commercial premises. You might find a potential Buy to Let flat, but it’s above an Indian restaurant, for example. We may still get a mortgage for that, but it will certainly restrict the options available.
Then there are the potential risks for the property you’re buying. Is it going to need a lot of maintenance? Is there a risk of rental voids in that area? Could the type of tenant you’re targeting increase your risk?
There are also considerations around interest rates – could they rise? We’re seeing that at the moment, unfortunately, as we speak today in March 2026. Finally, what’s the ownership approach? Are you going to buy in a limited company? There are certain tax savings you can make there.
How can a letting agent help with selecting a property to buy?
Ben: One of the most important ways a letting agent can help is in understanding changes in legislation and licensing. Enormous changes are coming on 1 May 2026 in the Renters’ Rights Bill.
I would imagine anyone interested in investing in Buy to Let would have heard of this. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we’ll be helping new landlords navigate these changes.
Then there are all the things you normally associate with a lettings and management agent, like taking pressure off you in dealing with the tenants, arranging maintenance, signing legal paperwork and advertising the property.
Legislation and licensing change regularly, and that can catch self-managing landlords out. If you’re not keeping your eye on the news, you could very quickly become non-compliant.
Who is eligible for a Buy to Let mortgage? Can a first-time buyer get a Buy to Let?
Marcus: Most people are eligible for a Buy to Let mortgage. Some lenders require you to be over 21 years of age, while others allow this from 18 years.
At the other end of the scale, a few lenders don’t have a maximum age. We’ve done mortgages for people in their 80s on their first Buy to Lets, which is great.
Some lenders will consider your income, but others have no minimum income requirements, so there are options for everyone.
Credit history is another factor – have you missed payments on loans or mortgages in the past? Again that can cause an issue with some lenders, while others are more flexible. Generally speaking, if you’re a UK citizen it’s not really going to be a problem.
Even if you’re not a UK citizen – perhaps you’re an expat or a foreign national – there are still options, but it might restrict you a little on which lenders can help.
First-time buyers can certainly get a Buy to Let. We help lots of first-time buyers who haven’t got their own residence – they’re living with parents or renting, and want to make an investment towards their future. That’s possible.
With first-time buyers, lenders often want to know that it’s not a ‘backdoor residential’, where the buyer says it will be let out but really they’re going to live there. They will look at the personal income of the buyer to check it would fit a standard residential mortgage, too.
If there’s an issue, you could partner with an experienced landlord. We often do that – and some people buy with their parents.
Do you specialise in a particular type of property or tenant? What services do you offer at Balloon Lettings?
Ben: We cover absolutely everything, whether it be a student property, renting to a family, to professional sharers or room-by-room HMOs. We cover everything within residential lettings.
We’re not estate agents or commercial agents.
One of our services is a Let-Only or a Tenant-Find service. That’s a popular one. It’s the service most people associate with a letting agent – photography, advertising on Rightmove and Zoopla and anywhere people search for property, full referencing checks, accompanied viewings, negotiating offers and all the legal paperwork.
We also offer Rent Collection, which covers everything from the tenant-find, plus collecting the rent on time and providing a statement each month outlining ingoings and outgoings.
Next is Full Property Management – again it’s the same, plus any maintenance. We act as the main point of contact for the tenants, collect the rent each month and keep on top of any legislative changes.
With management services like this, people can be as involved or uninvolved as they like.
What are the common mistakes made by first-time landlords when applying for a Buy to Let mortgage?
Marcus: Some clients come to us after taking a property education course, and those don’t always cover off the finance aspects. They teach you how to get a good Buy to Let and make money out of that, but don’t consider the mortgage side.
Some people come to us having sold their house or given up their job, wanting a Buy to Let. But without a home or an income you instantly narrow your options. It’s much better to speak to a mortgage advisor before doing that. Having said that, we can still help – it just might be a little trickier.
Another mistake is to go off and apply to lots of different lenders on your own, hoping that they’ll help. Any declines from lenders go against you on your credit file.
Instead, come to a multi-award winning brokerage like ourselves – that’s our job. We’ll look into it for you. We’ll identify your circumstances and how they fit with a lender, so we’ll know they will approve your mortgage.
The area and the property itself are very important, and you can get certain reports to help you with crime rates, occupancy levels and more. There’s a lot of research you can do as a landlord to help with that.
The last common mistake is to assume that a property will be accepted by a lender. Some types of concrete can be an issue for lenders, for example, or proximity to commercial premises like pubs or restaurants. If you speak to us early in the process, we can identify potential issues that lenders might pick up on.
How and when do you pay landlords their rental income?
Ben: Rental income is paid by BACS within two working days of receiving the rent. Most contracts run from the day the contract was agreed, which could be at any time within a month.
Normally we advise landlords to get the rent paid a week or so before the mortgage is due. It’s not uncommon for a landlord to ask us for it at the end of the month or just after the start of a month, in line with when people are paid. We manage over 200 properties and most rent is paid that way.
How much deposit is usually required for a Buy to Let mortgage?
Marcus: Most commonly it’s 25% of the purchase price, but some lenders can accept a smaller deposit. You could put down as little as 15% on a Buy to Let, but the smaller the deposit, the higher the interest rate you’ll pay.
Lenders operate at different levels. They’ll have products up to 60% Loan to Value, others that go up to 75%, and then another tier of products up to 85%.
If you don’t have enough deposit, there are ways around it. We often look at a landlord’s portfolio. They may own another property, whether that’s their own residential home or another Buy to Let, and we can actually secure on that as well – or raise money separately to produce the deposit they need.
How do you deal with a tenant’s complaints or issues?
Ben: There’s a very broad spectrum of complaints and issues. I’ve been in lettings for nearly 15 years, but often something will come up that I’ve never encountered before.
New landlords need to try hard to keep tenants on side. Tenants can come into a relationship with a new landlord with preconceived notions that the landlord wants to squeeze them for money and do as little as possible.
As a landlord you need to prove to that tenant that you’re a person too, and you’re trying to provide a nice home for them.
Any complaint or any issue is made a lot better if you build trust with that tenant. That’s something we’re very aware of, whether we’re working with a landlord on a Let-Only or with management. We want to overcome any misconceptions they might have about us and their new landlord.
What type of property is the best investment for a first-time landlord and what types of mortgages are available for Buy to Let?
Marcus: There’s not much difference between the type of property you would go for as a first-time landlord or as a seasoned landlord. It’s all down to your personal strategy and what you want to achieve.
Do you want to go for capital growth, to buy something that should go up in value and be worth much more in years to come? Or are you looking more at maximising your monthly income and cash flow?
That dictates which type of property to go for. You could look at short-term lets, for example, which may have lower occupancy overall, but the returns are really high. You could look at HMOs or standard lets.
It’s down to your strategy – and you can get help with that from people like Ben, working every day within lettings.
The types of product you can get are very similar to any other mortgage. A fixed rate will guarantee your interest rate for a certain period of time. Or, you might choose a variable or discounted rate, which tracks the lender’s standard variable rate or the Bank of England base rate. That can go up and down from month to month.
As we speak today in March 2026, we’re seeing interest rates creeping up due to issues in the Middle East. If you were on a variable rate, you would see your monthly payments going up, while on a fixed rate your payments are guaranteed for a set time.
If you want an interest-only mortgage, that’s no problem on Buy to Let. Many landlords do it that way, and may pay off chunks of the mortgage from time to time to reduce it down. You don’t have to do that – lenders are quite comfortable for you to just pay interest on the mortgage rather than repaying the loan at the same time.
We’ve covered all the questions for part one – do you have anything to add?
Marcus: If you’re interested in Buy to Let, speak to us about the finance side as early as you can, because sometimes clients come to us having found a property to buy and we then find some issues with it. But they may have already committed some fees or paid a solicitor.
If you come to us early, we can suggest things to consider and highlight things that could be an issue for a lender.
Ben: It’s exactly the same from our side. The time to get help with your Buy to Let strategy is before you start looking for properties. Speak to Marcus to understand your financial limits and what you can borrow, and then speak to us.
We can tell you what to look for and what to avoid. Make sure that the agent specialises in the area you’re looking at. We’re a Bristol agent, for example. Check they have a really good understanding of the area where you want to invest.
Key Takeaways:
- A standard deposit for a Buy to Let mortgage is 25% of the purchase price, but some lenders may accept as little as 15%, which typically results in a higher interest rate.
- First-time buyers, individuals up to their 80s, and those with no minimum income can be eligible for a Buy to Let mortgage, though options may be restricted based on individual circumstances.
- It is crucial to consult both a mortgage advisor and a letting agent about your financial limits and investment strategy before you begin looking for properties to avoid application issues and unnecessary fees.
- When selecting a property, consider the potential rental income (HMO versus single let), the type of tenant you want to attract, the property’s location, and any issues that may restrict your mortgage options, such as being located above a commercial premises.
- Letting agents provide critical assistance by helping landlords navigate constantly changing legislation and licensing requirements, avoiding non-compliance.
THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY DOES NOT REGULATE SOME FORMS OF BUY TO LETS. YOUR PROPERTY MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP TO DATE WITH YOUR MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS.
A fee may be payable if we progress your application. Our average fee is around £200 and the maximum you may pay is £995 for Retirement Interest Only mortgages.
Mortgage Style Ltd, trading as Mortgage Style, is an appointed representative of HLPartnership Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Speak To an Expert
Buy to Let Property and Management (Part 2)
How do you market a property and how quickly can you get it listed?
Ben: To market properties, we put them on a central system that shares the details out to all the portals we’re associated with. To attract professionals as tenants, these include Rightmove, Zoopla and OntheMarket.
There are also about 100 affiliate sites. We advertise on social media too – we were one of the first agents to start doing that. Instagram’s a really good platform for it.
For student properties, it’s now important to use student-centric portals like UniHomes and YourPad. UniHomes is considered the student equivalent of Rightmove. While students do look on Rightmove, it’s really important to hit these specific sites as well.
We’re also partnered with the University Students’ Union and its own sites, so we get direct access to any students that are recommended through that.
How does a portfolio mortgage work? How many properties do I need to be classed as a portfolio landlord?
Marcus: To be classed as a portfolio landlord, you would need to have four or more mortgaged properties. At that level, lenders do a slightly different assessment on you. Even if they’re lending on just one of your properties, they will look at the background portfolio.
They want to see that you’ve got sufficient rental income coverage across those properties and you’re not overleveraged on those mortgages. They will check there’s equity there, and follow that through with an assessment.
You may hear the abbreviation ICR – that’s interest cover ratio. It’s how lenders look at the rent coming in compared to the mortgage per month. They want to see a good surplus to allow you to proceed.
Some lenders offer portfolio mortgages, where they put a number of properties under one mortgage. One lender, Paragon, even lets you put up to 99 properties on one mortgage.
The benefits include quicker processing, easier admin and savings on fees. The downside is that there can be less flexibility if you want to sell one or two properties. With all properties within one mortgage, it can be more convoluted.
In a portfolio situation, some lenders ask for your business plans and cashflow forecasts. We can help with that, pointing you in the right direction to get things through as quickly as possible.
Some lenders have caps on the number of properties in your portfolio – commonly, that’s 10. However, we’ve got landlords who own 300 properties, so there are always options.
What other factors do I need to consider when investing in a Buy to Let property?
Marcus: It’s important to think about your long-term plan. Do you want a repayment mortgage, to pay down the mortgage as you’re going, or to stick to interest-only, where the mortgage balance is never going to reduce?
Perhaps further down the line, you will sell the properties to clear the mortgage – that’s how you exit.
Some clients use a limited company to buy properties, and add their children as directors or shareholders of that company, which can help with inheritance tax planning. The properties can be passed down in future without a big tax burden.
We’re not tax advisors, though – so speak to a qualified tax advisor for clarification on the best way forward with that.
Also, speak with a broker with lots of experience in the investment property area. There are lots of good brokers out there, but they don’t necessarily deal with a lot of landlord or investment property mortgages. I do recommend using someone with that experience.
As a company, we often liaise with other professionals in the sector – letting agents like Ben, and also accountants and solicitors. We refer our clients to specialists in areas we don’t directly cover.
How do you handle maintenance and emergency repairs? Do you have in-house contractors or use third party tradespeople?
Ben: Unlike a lot of other agents, we like any maintenance and repairs – emergency or not – to come directly through to our property management team. Lots of companies want you to go online and send a form.
One of our biggest strengths as a management company is the experience of our team. We expect five years’ experience for anyone joining our property management team, because it’s the most important job in the business.
When an issue comes in, we diagnose it. Around 50% of things that are reported are easy to deal with there and then. Emergency repairs are always given highest priority. We’re not yet at a point where we have in-house contractors, although I’m hoping we can get to a size where that makes sense.
One of the hardest things when I set up the business was that, being unknown and not managing many properties at the start, it wasn’t a fantastic opportunity for tradespeople to work with me. But as the business has grown, we now offer a lot of work – so we get preferential rates and treatment.
We see these tradespeople day in, day out, particularly the gas engineers, electricians and plumbers. They will drop everything to help us in an emergency. We know they offer a fantastic level of service, will go back to a property if needed, and won’t charge over the odds for work.
One of the biggest problems we see with maintenance is people trying to go in as cheaply as possible. It’s such a false economy. In my experience, it’s worth paying a little more to get a fantastic job done and work with someone reputable.
Are there any tax implications for first-time landlords to be aware of? How does Stamp Duty work with Buy to Let?
Marcus: We’re not tax advisors, so we’ve got to be careful what we say here. We definitely recommend you speak to a specialist tax advisor for this.
You’re going to have Stamp Duty, whether you’re a first-time landlord or not, and there’s an additional surcharge to pay on a second property. There are certain circumstances when that could potentially be reduced. Clients sometimes buy uninhabitable properties, for example, in which case Stamp Duty is lower.
You may have heard of share purchase agreements, where you’re buying properties held in a limited company – you’re actually buying the company rather than the property. In that case your Stamp Duty can reduce massively. That’s another area a lot of our clients are looking at.
You also need to decide whether to buy a property in your personal name or via a limited company. Tax advisors and accountants will help you on this, but it can make a big difference in the tax you pay on rental income down the line.
You need to be aware of all taxes when buying a property, but the big one with Buy to Let is that higher Stamp Duty cost.
What other costs do I need to be aware of?
Marcus: As with all mortgages, you’ll have arrangement fees from lenders, survey fees and legal fees. Some lenders also charge an admin fee or booking fee.
As a broker, we highlight every fee and make you aware of what you’ll be paying, because you need to have the cash available for that.
If you’re remortgaging a property, there can be real benefits with lenders that offer free surveys and free legal fees.
We help you look at the deal as a whole – including fees and interest rates to look at the whole picture. We’ll give you a true cost comparison based on everything to make an informed decision.
The last thing to include is our broker fee. We do charge a fee as a longstanding, experienced mortgage broker, but only once we’ve got you the mortgage offer. We do all the work to get that agreed for you before we expect our fee to be paid. The fee ranges between £395 and £595.
What are your fees for each service level? Are there any hidden costs? Do you charge for renewing tenancies or managing repairs?
Ben: We don’t have any hidden costs, and that’s fairly common throughout the industry. When I set up Balloon Lettings, we wanted to make the fee structure as straightforward as possible. We don’t charge anything for renewing tenancies, and we don’t make a markup on any repairs.
For the Let-Only service, we charge 70% of one month’s rent plus VAT. On this service we manage everything up until the point the tenants move in, and then pass it over to the landlord to manage directly.
Rent collection is 4% of the monthly rent plus VAT, and management is 11% of the monthly rent plus VAT [information correct at the time of recording in March 2026].
Do you work closely with letting agents like Balloon Lettings? How does the collaborative process work?
Marcus: We do work with Balloon Lettings, and we love working with them. They’re so professional and do such a great job for their clients. We feel we share a lot of the same values and high service standards, with great communication throughout.
We’ve got a crossover with our clients. We can help with finance, while Balloon can help with letting out and managing the property.
We can identify savings for existing landlords on their current mortgages, and help them pull money out of a portfolio. They may be sitting on equity that’s doing nothing, for example.
We can identify how to extract that money from the portfolio, allowing them to buy more properties. That’s then another property for the letting agent to manage, too. It’s win-win all round – for the client, for us and the letting agent.
Ben: I’ve got a lot of faith in Mortgage Style because, as Marcus said, they’re service-led, exactly like us. I use them personally – for my own home and also for a rental property I have as a landlord.
It’s a very easy partnership. We send out a newsletter to all of our customers every two months, and Mortgage Style has an article in it, talking about changes in mortgage products and what’s going on in the market. I think that brings a lot of value to our customers.
We’ve covered a lot here – have you got anything else to add?
Marcus: It’s been quite a tough time for landlords with recent legislation changes like the new Renters’ Rights Bill. There are certainly landlords leaving the market, but there’s also massive opportunity. I feel that it’s going to stay strong for everyone.
We love helping people with this and finding solutions to their problems. There are lots of different strategies people can use. If you’re buying rundown properties, for example, we can fund that with bridging and development finance. Once the work’s done, we then switch to a standard Buy to Let mortgage.
There are new schemes to use, buying below market value properties and borrowing against the higher future value. That means there’s a smaller deposit. There are also title splits, where you buy a property on one title and split it down to create value.
There are lots of schemes available – it’s still a good market to be in and a good investment strategy.
Ben: This is one of the toughest times to be a landlord, but that means there’s an enormous opportunity, because it will improve. It’s just a matter of time – maybe just a couple of years.
If you can work with us and Mortgage Style to make something work now, you will be massively rewarded down the line. I’m personally still going to continue to invest in property. It’s a cyclical market that’s bound to improve in the not too distant future.
Key Takeaways:
- Marketing strategies differ for tenant demographics, using major portals and social media for professionals, while focusing on student-centric sites like UniHomes and university partnerships for student properties.
- Lenders classify a landlord as a portfolio landlord once they have four or more mortgaged properties, requiring an assessment of the overall portfolio for sufficient interest cover ratio (ICR) and equity.
- Long-term investment plans require choosing between repayment and interest-only mortgages, and considering specialised tax strategies such as using a limited company for potential inheritance tax planning benefits.
- With maintenance and repairs, working with experienced, reputable tradespeople ensures reliable service, preferential rates, and prompt handling of emergencies.
- Despite recent legislation and challenges for landlords, the Buy to Let market is considered to have massive opportunity and is expected to improve, with strategies such as bridging finance for renovations, buying below market value, and title splits available to create value.
THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY DOES NOT REGULATE SOME FORMS OF BUY TO LET. YOUR PROPERTY MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP TO DATE WITH YOUR MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS.
A fee may be payable if we progress your application. Our average fee is around £200, and the maximum you may pay is £995 for Retirement Interest Only mortgages.
Mortgage Style Ltd, trading as Mortgage Style, is an appointed representative of HLPartnership Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.