Buy-to-let landlords not covered by payment holiday plan

Simon Gordon, Head of Communications, National Landlords Association, commenting on the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme, said: "Given that 71 per cent of landlords expect rental arrears to be a major issue during 2009, the Government should extend the recently announced measures, aimed at helping struggling homeowners, to cover properties secured on buy-to-let mortgage finance.

"If the end game is to prevent people losing their homes, then it makes no sense for buy-to-let mortgages to be exempt from these new measures. For the more highly-geared and smaller landlord, whose monthly mortgage payments rely heavily on monthly rental income, tenants not paying can quickly spell disaster.

"By giving buy-to-let landlords the same breathing space, it would give them a chance to offer any struggling tenants a similar period of time to get their finances in order and prevent the home being repossessed and lenders evicting tenants."