Have UK regulations been lax in the buy to let mortgage market?
The revelation of a £41 million hit, much of which is connected to an alleged buy to let mortgage fraud, has plunged the Chelsea building society into difficulties. This is not the first time we have seen buy to let mortgage difficulties in the UK over the last few months, with the Bradford & Bingley (the largest buy to let mortgage provider in the UK) having to write off significant bad debts just a few weeks ago. So have regulators been lax?
There's no doubt that self certification in the buy to let mortgage market has certainly seen many "chickens come home to roost" and there are likely to be more bad debts on the way. In the good times the buy to let market was a cash cow for the mortgage lenders although now the UK economy is under pressure and finance is thin on the ground we are seeing more and more buy to let property owners struggling to pay their mortgages.
Some reason the buy to let mortgage market seems to have slipped under the radar of UK regulators although no doubt this is an issue which will be considered in due course.
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