Buy-to-let policy
We have two types of BTL assessment, rental cover and top slicing.
Rental cover
Under a rental cover assessment, the rental income must cover the mortgage payment by a minimum ICR (Interest Cover Ratio) based on the relevant Stress Rate
This is the assessment we use for all portfolio landlords, and we use it for non-portfolio landlord cases unless top slicing could help.
We have no minimum income for a rental cover assessed BTL.
You can find our minimum ICRs and stress rates under our rental cover criteria.
Top slicing
Top slicing uses a customer’s spare personal income to boost their borrowing amount, by allowing a lower ICR than we may otherwise allow.
We consider top slicing for non-portfolio landlords.
Check our top slicing criteria.
Affordability calculator
Our affordability calculator will let you know how much we could lend.
It will first look at whether we could lend the amount requested using our stressed ICR rental cover assessment.
If we can’t get to the amount you need but our top slicing assessment might help, it will then ask for personal income details.