The Mortgage Credit Directive Order 2015

Conduct of business obligations when providing consumer buy-to-let mortgage products to consumers

1.—(1) When manufacturing consumer buy-to-let mortgage contracts or granting, intermediating or providing advisory services on consumer buy-to-let mortgage contracts and, where appropriate, ancillary services to consumers or when executing a consumer buy-to-let mortgage contract, the creditor or credit intermediary must act honestly, fairly, transparently and professionally, taking account of the rights and interests of the consumers.

(2) The granting, intermediating or provision of advisory services on consumer buy-to-let mortgage contracts and, where appropriate, the provision of ancillary services must be based on—

(a) information about the borrower’s circumstances;

(b) any specific requirement made known by the borrower;

(c) reasonable assumptions about risks to the borrower’s situation over the term of the contract;

(d) where the activity is the provision of advisory services, the information set out in paragraph 13(4)(a) and (b); and

(e) information on the typical rental levels and rental demands within the property’s locality and the impact of future interest rate rises, rental voids, rental arrears and typical letting costs.

(3) The manner in which creditors remunerate their staff and credit intermediaries and the manner in which credit intermediaries remunerate their staff must not impede compliance with the obligation set out in sub-paragraph (1).

(4) When establishing and applying remuneration policies for their staff responsible for the assessment of creditworthiness, creditors must comply with the following principles in a way and to the extent that is appropriate to their size, internal organisation and the nature, scope and complexity of their activities—

(a) the remuneration policy must be consistent with and promote sound and effective risk management and must not encourage risk-taking that exceeds the level of tolerated risk of the creditor;

(b) the remuneration policy must be in line with the business strategy, objectives, values and long-term interests of the creditor, and must incorporate measures to avoid conflicts of interest, in particular by providing that remuneration is not contingent on the number or proportion of applications accepted.

(5) Where a creditor or credit intermediary provides advisory services, the remuneration structure of the staff involved must not prejudice their ability to act in the consumer’s best interest and in particular must not be contingent on sales targets.