HBOS pulls five buy-to-let mortgages

Bank of Scotland will drop five of its buy-to-let and 10 of its self-certifying mortgages from its range at 5pm today because of the pressure of added business from other lenders who have left the market.

HBOS-owned BM Solutions and the Mortgage Business will withdraw some of their mortgage range tomorrow ahead of a product relaunch on Wednesday. 

‘There has been a very significant reduction in the number of lenders in the specialist sector,’ said Heather Scott, head of press relations for HBOS mortgages. ‘Our focus is on getting the right proportion of business.' 

‘We can’t handle the level of business from those lenders who have left the sector,’ Scott said. 

Scott could not confirm if the whole ranges from BM Solutions and the Mortgage Business would be reintroduced after the refresh.  

Broker Danny Lovey said the liquidity crisis was now worse than anyone predicted, with lenders rationing their mortgages. 

Lovey was contacting clients who were due to remortgage in June because he was so uncertain about the availability and processing time of mortgages in the current market. 

A daily wave of product withdrawals and re-pricings make it a ‘nightmare’ for brokers to stay up to date, says Lovey from the Mortgage Practitioner.