British Property Federation calls for the same regulation as other home loans by the City Watchdog.

Buy-to-let mortgages are generally treated as business loans, unlike other mortgages which are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The British Property Federation, which represents investors, said regulation would halt “reckless lending”.

Many amateur landlords were drawn into the buy-to-let market during the boom.

The Federation argues that regulation would protect such landlords.

Ian Fletcher, the Federation’s director of policy say’s “Many lenders simply threw money at buy-to-let borrowers during the boom without sufficient checks on who they were lending to or what they were lending for,” .

“Consumers have suffered as their buy-to-let dream turned sour and many buy-to-let lenders were at the root of our economic problems.”

David Poppleton, of Access Property Developments - which finds properties for buy-to-let investors – said that the lack of regulation had been an “anomaly” for some time in the mortgage market.

There is currently a government review into the mortgage market which is due to be released in the coming weeks.

About the Author

Mark Higham

Is the Managing Partner at Numero Accountancy LLP and an ACCA qualified accountant. Having spent time working in large Plc's and Private Limited Companies in Senior Finance roles Mark start his own practice in 2005. In this time Mark has been a finalist in Doncaster Chambers Entrepreneur Year and Numero have been finalists in the Rotherham Chamber New Business Start-Up and Most Innovative Use of Technology Awards.

Posted on 21st July, 2010