Buy to Let Remortgage
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Buy to Let Remortgage
James Thomas explains how a Buy to Let remortgage works.
Can you remortgage a Buy to Let?
Yes, you certainly can. It works very much like a mortgage on the property you live in. If you’re on a fixed-rate product, it will end at some point – the redemption date. At that point we can help you remortgage onto, hopefully, a better mortgage deal.
We would talk through your current situation and look at your finances. We’ll see if anything’s changed – an increase to your income, your budget, or if you’ve had any children since the last mortgage. We’ll then research the right Buy to Let remortgage options for you.
We present our advice. Once you’re happy to go ahead, we’ll apply to the lender on your behalf. We do all the chasing and the exchange of documentation, we speak to the solicitors and hold your hand all the way through.
Our research might suggest it’s better to stick with your current lender. If there’s not a lot of difference in the interest rate and you’re happy to stay with that provider, we can do what’s called a ‘product transfer’.
There will still be a few documents, but it’s a much quicker process than remortgaging to a whole new lender. It’s faster and a lot less hassle, and we also wouldn’t charge you a fee.
Remortgaging you to a new lender involves a lot more work so a fee would apply.
With both remortgaging and switching, we’ll secure a rate and you could still be a couple of months away from that new rate becoming applicable. It would switch over the day after your current deal ends, so that you avoid any early repayment charge.
During that two to three month period before the rate starts, we would regularly review the market. If there are reductions in interest rates, we call the lender and amend that product so that you benefit from the lower rate.
Hopefully in the coming months, interest rates will come down – there’s no guarantee, but if they do we’ll be very busy making sure our clients benefit from the lower rate [podcast recorded in November 2025].
Why remortgage a Buy to Let?
There are lots of reasons for remortgaging, but the main one is to get a better deal and save money. If you don’t remortgage, at the end of your two, three or even 10-year fixed-rate period, your lender will automatically transfer you to their much higher standard variable rate.
As we speak in November 2025, that rate could be 6.99% to 8.5%. The monthly payments would be significantly higher than what you’re used to paying.
That’s why it’s so important to keep an eye on when your current deal ends, especially if you got a mortgage a few years ago and benefited from a low rate. Get in touch with a broker now if you think you’re nearing the end of your product. The standard variable rates will cost you a lot more, and it’s totally avoidable.
How do I remortgage a Buy to Let? What’s the process?
It’s a short conversation with us at the start, where we gather all the relevant information. If you’re doing a like-for-like remortgage where you’re not borrowing any more money and nothing’s changed, it won’t take too long.
It’s all about creating a story for an underwriter when they look at your remortgage. If anything’s changed with your Buy to Let: the rent’s altered, you’ve had some periods where you’ve not been able to let the property, or you’ve made improvements to it, it’s your chance to tell us.
We also look at your position in terms of your family, budget and outgoings. We’ll take all of that into consideration. There are thousands of deals out there. We’ll filter through to find the deals that will hopefully save you money and be the right fit for you.
We recommend what we think is right for your situation and if you want to go ahead, we apply to the lender. We do all the paperwork and liaison. We’ll follow up with solicitors, valuers…. you don’t need to get involved in the process. It’s us doing it all in the background.
Can I be refused a Buy to Let remortgage?
Yes, you can be refused any mortgage. It links into why we need that story about what’s happened since the last mortgage.
There are always solutions to any changes in your circumstances. Perhaps your credit score’s taken a hit because you missed a couple of payments. Credit score is important for both a Buy to Let mortgage or a residential mortgage, so keep an eye on that.
Sometimes clients don’t even know that they’ve got a parking ticket, as it’s gone to an old address. All of a sudden they’ve got a default on their credit file that scuppers their chances of getting a mainstream lender for the remortgage. We can get them through with an adverse lender, but the interest rates are a bit higher.
Specifically with Buy to Let, if you’ve changed the usage of the property, such as turning it into a house of multiple occupancy (HMO) or to an Airbnb, your current lender might not allow that. We’d have to remortgage you to a lender that accepts that new usage.
If your tenants haven’t treated the property as they should, and on valuation the lender deems it to be uninhabitable, that could also affect your chances of getting a remortgage. Those are some of the challenges to look out for.
How long does it take to remortgage a Buy to Let?
It really depends on the lender. It can take up to three months. The usual is six to eight weeks on a remortgage, but we’ve got some through in two or three weeks – even a single day in some cases.
That was with a lender that already held information and could make a very quick decision. If you factor in six to eight weeks up to two or three months, that’s about the timeframe.
Having all your documents in order is really helpful. For Buy to Let landlords that means having your tax returns, proof of your rental income, your tenancy agreements all up-to-date, your latest bank statements. We can get things through so much quicker if you’ve got those to hand.
In remortgages, lenders will ask for all that information. With product transfers, it’s not so bad.
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What costs are involved in a Buy to Let remortgage?
We search the market in line with your priorities. With Buy to Let, arrangement fees can typically range from a £999 fee to up to a few thousand pounds.
A mortgage with no arrangement fee will typically have a higher interest rate. A mortgage with a £12,000 arrangement fee will have a much lower rate. We tend to source mortgages based on the total costs over the product period. You then get the most cost-effective deal.
In some cases there is also a valuation fee. A lot of the time lenders just do a ‘desktop’ valuation looking at typical market data to assess the property value.
On remortgages, we often get free legals using the lender’s solicitors. If it’s a more complex case, there may be a charge.
In terms of broker fees, if it’s a product transfer there’s no fee, while we do charge for the work involved in a full remortgage.
Do you have to pay stamp duty when remortgaging to Buy to Let?
No, stamp duty is only payable when you transfer the ownership of the property. There’s no stamp duty to pay at remortgage because you’re not selling the property to anyone.
The remortgage process simply swaps one lender for another with no equity transferred. When you take out a mortgage on a property, the lender takes a ‘legal charge’ over the property, but they don’t own it.
What are the benefits of remortgaging a Buy to Let property?
The main one is to stop you inadvertently falling onto the lender’s standard variable rate. That’s the primary objective of remortgaging and potentially saves you hundreds of pounds a month.
If you’ve built up a significant amount of equity in your property as a first-time landlord, you might want to release some of that to invest in your next property. That will all come out of the conversation during the fact-find with an adviser.
When we have that conversation, you might decide to take that finance out on a higher Loan to Value product and use the cash to expand your portfolio. You might want to dip into HMO properties or refurbish your current properties.
You can do that as long as the equity is there to fund it. The equity is the difference between the mortgage and the overall value of the property.
How can a mortgage broker help here? Is there anything else to consider?
We do this every day, so the benefit of using us is the speed and efficiency of our research, our knowledge and the systems we have access to. It makes it so much quicker to filter out anything irrelevant.
We also get exclusive deals from lenders that aren’t offered direct to the public. It’s always worth speaking to us first. Everyone’s busy, and no-one likes the hassle of handling paperwork and sending it off to lenders. We’ve got a whole team of people to do that for you.
You’ll have an experienced point of contact throughout the whole process. Even if we don’t have any news for our clients, we keep in touch. When you go direct you often don’t hear anything from a lender for ages – whereas we keep in regular contact with our clients.
There’s nothing worse than waiting on the end of the phone or going into the weekend not knowing what’s going on with your mortgage. We give you that peace of mind. Peace of mind and expertise.
Key Takeaways:
- The main objective of a Buy to Let remortgage is to avoid automatically falling onto the lender’s high Standard Variable Rate (SVR).
- You have two main options: a full remortgage to a new lender or a ‘product transfer’ with your current lender.
- The remortgage process typically takes six to eight weeks, though it can take up to three months. You can speed it up by having all necessary documents to hand – tax returns, proof of rental income, up-to-date tenancy agreements, and bank statements.
- Remortgage applications can be refused if your credit score has been negatively impacted, if you have changed the property’s usage, or if the property is deemed uninhabitable upon valuation.
- A mortgage broker provides speed, efficiency, market knowledge, and access to exclusive deals not offered to the public.
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.
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.