Buy-to-let (BTL) lenders continued to find their footing in 2025, notably in a market that was less forgiving than in previous years.
As interest rates eased and demand for BTL properties held steady, the sector rebounded, with brokers working with lenders to find ways to structure deals that made the numbers work for their landlord clients.
The recipients of Mortgage Finance Gazette’s Rated for Service 2026 BTL accolades deserve praise for their commitment to the sector, their flexibility in adapting to a changing market, and their role in driving a resurgence in BTL lending figures in 2025.
Once again this year, 36 lenders have been assessed in this category, with nine earning Top Rated for Service status and nine achieving Rated for Service. There has been some movement in both sets of rankings — perhaps a sign of a more buoyant market.
Barclays and HSBC have both jumped from Rated for Service last year to Top Rated this year, while Fleet and Pepper Money entered the Rated for Service tier. Once again, building societies — along with their subsidiaries — and specialist lenders have both made a strong showing.
BTL lenders achieved their highest scores for sales support and communication — perhaps reflecting brokers’ appreciation of their clear guidance. However, among the upper quartile of BTL lenders, underwriting and case processing received the lowest scores, possibly highlighting frustration at the time it had taken to process some harder-to-place cases.
Overall, BTL scores for the Top Rated for Service lenders are consistent across the board this year.
However, there are some fluctuations between the categories in the Rated for Service tier.
In a repeat of last year’s results, three lenders achieved the distinction of being Top Rated or Rated for Service across all three categories — mainstream, specialist and BTL.
Congratulations go to Bank of Ireland, which did so for the second year running, joined this year by Aldermore and Pepper.
All Rated for Service data is accessed via the dashboard. The ratings data for each lender category, and the rankings data for each assessment area, is available from the past four years. Lenders’ performance in any of the five assessment areas can be ranked across the entire lender panel for each lender category, and year.
Factor analysis is also available for each lender category to enable benchmarking across a panel of lenders versus the average score for each assessment area. This can be filtered by broker type and case load, providing tailored benchmarks for individual brokers (max. of five lenders).
Please see the buy-to-let lender dashboard below.
