This was revealed during an interview conducted by Rob Jupp, chief executive of Brightstar.
Patel continued: “I see this continuing over Q4 and into next year. We have a good understanding of the market and have a good relationship with partners, such as Brightstar.”
He also said believes the reason business levels have increased is due to the Chancellor being bold with the stamp duty holiday.
Patel added: “Landlords felt under the previous Chancellor that they were penalised with the tax disadvantages.
“However, now landlords have increased their presence in the market and it has now reached record levels.
“There is more confidence in the market and landlords are chasing yields, they are after yields more over capital growth now.
“This is exampled by the rise in demand for [houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)] and holiday lets.”
Holiday lets have also seen a large spike in demand due to staycations and travel bans as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Patel explained that landlords have increasingly been adding bedrooms to their existing properties due to the relaxation on planning laws and permitted development (PD).
When looking to people converting a property into a HMO, Patel said that Together is starting to see more clients with an understanding of the role of specialist lending.
Moving onto the impact of regulatory changes, Patel said: “[Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)] ratings have been an area which have become harder for landlords to pass, as they are now required to have a higher rating.
“You can utilise bridging and second charges in order to access finance and up those ratings to a higher standard.”
On cladding and EWS1 forms, Patel outlined the difficulties lenders have faced in this area of the market, and said: “It is important that governance is at the forefront of any lending decision.”
Patel said that Together accepts all types of clients in the BTL market, from amateur to professional.
He added: “We do a lot of foreign national lending and expat lending, we really do not have a mould for the time of client we offer buy-to-let mortgages to.”
The London property market, which has a large number of foreign nationals involved within it, is starting to pick up again, Patel said.
When asked why Patel has remained at Together, despite individuals within the specialist market frequently changing company, he said: “The main reason why I have stayed here is the culture.
“We want to do the best for the customer outcome, the attitude and drive from the business from every level down has become more focused on providing the right outcome.
“So for me personally, I feel that passion and I want to drive forward with that.
“We have been altering our sales team and we now have a really good group of people and we believe this is the reason behind why we have seen our BTL volumes double in 2021.”
You can download the video here.
