TMPE: BTL market complexity highlights value of adviser expertise
The increasingly complex buy-to-let (BTL) landscape is creating opportunities for brokers able to support landlords through regulatory changes.
Speaking at The Mortgage and Protection Event (TMPE) in Birmingham, Ian Scarrott, key relationship manager at OSB Group, said growing complexity in the BTL market presented an opportunity for brokers.
He said landlords increasingly require specialist advice to navigate regulatory changes and more sophisticated finance arrangements.
Speaking about the changing market, Scarrott said: “Clients’ lives have ultimately become more complicated.”
However, he argued that this should be viewed positively by advisers who have developed the expertise to support landlords with more complex requirements.
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‘Complexity isn’t a bad thing’
Scarrott said: “I take the firm view that complexity isn’t a bad thing because for those brokers that have learned to navigate that more speciality landscape… there’s a significant opportunity that will absolutely grow into the future.”
He said BTL was “going through the most significant structural change within the past decade”, with the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) contributing to a shift in the make-up of the landlord market.
Scarrott reinforced the view that this was accelerating the professionalisation of the sector, with larger landlords increasingly taking the place of smaller, more “casual” landlords.
He described “undeniably seeing a change in the rank of BTL landlords”, adding that “from a lender’s perspective, that’s not necessarily a bad thing”.
Scarrott characterised the more professionalised market as one that was “maturing”. He added that these landlords were “high-quality borrowers that use high-quality, complex specialist finance products”.
Importantly for advisers, he said these borrowers “are the ones that absolutely value how critical quality advice is in the process.”
Scarrott said this made the intermediary channel increasingly important to the private rental sector (PRS) and BTL market, describing the sector as “wholly owned by the intermediary sector”.
He added that the changing landscape makes advisers’ “position[s] even stronger”, as landlords need “what you bring to the table even more so now than ever before”.
Read more coverage from this year’s TMPE:
TMPE: OSB Group turns attention to later life BTL market
TMPE: Regulation presents ‘opportunity’ for lenders to adapt propositions
