An important trend is that interest from new investors, ‘First time landlords’ continues to grow.

According to Knowledge Bank’s latest tracker results, the analysis of brokers’ searches in February found that intermediaries are working with potential new landlords.

For the tenth month in a row, buy-to-let brokers reported interest from ‘first-time landlords’, with the criteria reaching the top five, and in February it was the most-searched term by brokers. Knowledge Bank believes this demonstrates the interest in the rental market from investors who would normally look to deal in stocks and shares but are now shifting attention to buy-to-let.

At Foundation, we welcome First Time Landlords for loans of up to £500,000 up to 80% LTV as long as the applicant is currently an owner occupier and for standard properties, and they may apply for in individual buy to let mortgage or a Limited Company mortgage. At least one applicant must be over 21 and there is no maximum age if applying through a limited company (maximum age is 85 for applications as an individual).

See our full Buy to Let criteria guide here

Not all buy-to-let mortgage products are available to first-time landlords. According to Moneyfacts, around 65 per cent of buy-to-let mortgage deals – or 1,311 products – are now accessible to novice investors, although that is an improvement compared to a year ago when around 61 per cent of the market was catering to first-time landlords.

Naturally, marketing to these first-time landlords carries its own challenges; how can the intermediary market reach them for the first time? The advice of an expert intermediary and access to the right specialist lenders is crucial to the success of their first endeavour.

Try the rental calculator here