Scores of landlords who won a payment deferral earlier in the pandemic have reported that it’s now impacting their ability to get mortgage funding.

A survey by The Mortgage Lender found that of those landlords who had received financial help, 44% reported that it had already counted against them when trying to get funding, while 31% expected it would impact them negatively in the future.

The poll discovered that 64% of landlords hadn’t had any financial help during the pandemic although 20% had got a bounce-back loan, 24% had taken a payment deferral as a precaution and 11% had taken a deferral out of necessity.

This backs up claims made in July by broker Dan Lee to LandlordZONE, claiming landlords who signed up to the deferred payments scheme would regret it later.

The Mortgage Lender says landlords are feeling abandoned by the Government, with 52% believing they should receive future financial support.

More support
Many favour the reintroduction of short-term tax relief on mortgage interest payments (63%) and automatic deferral of tax bills for 12 months (52%) as a way to support the sector as it recovers from the financial hit of COVID-19.

Sales director Steve Griffiths says that when the Government was putting together its package of financial help for homeowners and tenants, buy-to-let landlords weren’t a consideration. The additional tenant protection included in the Coronavirus Act 2020 had also led to many landlords feeling they have been overlooked.

He adds: “The Government was also unequivocal that payment deferrals wouldn’t impact on an individuals’ credit file, however a large number of those BTL landlords who have received financial support in the form of a payment deferral are reporting that it is already impacting their ability to obtain mortgage funding.”

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