20
Feb
Buy-to-let 'needs more regulation'
More regulation should be put in place for the buy-to-let mortgages
market, investor website smartlandlord.co.uk has argued.
Spokesperson Michaella Waldren suggested that the Financial
Services Authority (FSA) should play a larger role in regulating
such mortgages, to help improve the security of those taking them
out in the light of the importance the private rental sector has in
meeting the UK's housing need.
She stated: "With the private rented sector playing an increasingly
important part in the tenure of the UK housing market, it is
essential that the FSA regulate buy-to-let possessions as tightly
as those in the owner occupied sector."
Ms Waldren made her remarks after figures produced by the Council
of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed that buy-to-let lending dipped by
12 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008.
She commented that the industry is "much more stable" than the CML
figures suggest.
The fourth quarter tally of buy-to-let mortgages recorded by the
CML was 37,000, at a total value of £3.9 billion.
