What’s The Longest BTL Mortgage Term In The UK?

Where can I get the best long-term buy-to-let mortgage?

The mortgage market is constantly shifting – it’s highly reactive to the wider economy – so lenders are regularly pulling old products and launching new ones. In other words, if I were to list mortgage providers currently offering 40 year term deals, the information would probably be outdated by the time I hit publish. Yup, it’s really that ridiculous out there.

That said, there are plenty of lenders out there currently offering mortgage terms of up to 40 years.

In my view, the best way to get a bird’s-eye view of what’s available to you is to use a mortgage comparison website, ideally one that covers the whole market and isn’t limited to a handful of lenders they’re chummy with.

I’d be remiss not to point you in the direction of my affiliate partner, Habito – a free online mortgage broker that covers the entire market. I genuinely believe they’re the best in the business, which is why I’ve personally used them a few times (feel free to read my full Habito review if you’re interested).

So, if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to find out how much you could borrow, and what mortgage products are available to you, look no further…

Pros & Cons of long-term mortgages

I mean, hopefully this doesn’t come as a shock to anyone:

Advantages

• Lower monthly repayments: Because you’re spreading the cost over a longer period, your monthly payments will be smaller, making the loan more manageable month to month.
• Improved affordability: Smaller monthly repayments can make it easier to pass lender affordability checks, which is especially helpful for first-time buyers trying to get on the ladder.

Disadvantages

• Higher interest costs: Longer-term mortgages usually come with slightly higher interest rates, and since you’re borrowing over more years, you’ll end up paying significantly more interest overall.
• In debt for longer: You’ll remain in debt for a longer period *if* you stick with the full 40 year term. However, this isn’t set in stone; you can remortgage onto a shorter term down the line, especially if your financial circumstances improve.

Are long-term mortgages risky (e.g. 40 year terms)?

I mean, let’s be real, and totally insufferable: every loan comes with a certain level of risk.

But I guess the real question is: are long-term loans inherently riskier than short-term ones?

In a sense, yes.

For one (although, I’m not sure if this makes the loan riskier from the outset), long-term loans are generally more expensive than standard-term mortgages. For example, the interest rate on a 40 year loan will typically be higher than on a 25 year one.

But more importantly, there is a genuine risk of in the unknown. Assuming you make no overpayments and the loan lasts for 40 years, that is a long-arse time to require financial stability. The reality is, there’s simply no knowing how a person’s financial situation might change in the next 40 years. Yes, that’s also true for a 25 year term mortgage loan, but logically, the shorter the term of the loan, the less time a borrower needs to maintain an income to service the loan, which equates to less risk.

The most important factor in any loan is whether you can comfortably keep up with the repayments, including after stress-testing for worst-case scenarios. For buy-to-let landlords, the risk is arguably lower, thanks to rental income helping cover the mortgage.

Of course, one of the perks of mortgage loans is that you’re not usually locked into them for the full term (unless you’ve unwittingly signed your life away to a rotten deal). You can often remortgage onto different products, and over the course of a 40 year loan, that’s likely to be the smart move. As the financial landscape shifts, and especially as your personal financial circumstances improve, better deals will likely become available.

So ultimately, even if long-term mortgages are inherently riskier than shorter-term loans, that heightened risk doesn’t have to be permanent.

Would I get a long-term mortgage?

Obviously, I can’t advise anyone what they should or shouldn’t do, nor do I have any interest in doing so. But I’m happy to share what I would do if a long-term mortgage were on the table (assuming it was the only realistically affordable solution for me to get my foot onto the property ladder).

I’ve come a long way since starting my landlord journey, and honestly, it wasn’t until I was already well into it that I realised how glad I am that I went “all in” As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Had I not invested in property and become a landlord, I’m pretty confident I wouldn’t have built up the yield and capital appreciation I’ve seen. I’m not saying there haven’t been better-performing assets, because there absolutely have, but I probably wouldn’t have identified them. More likely, I’d have either blown my money on meaningless crap or watched it get quietly devoured by inflation while it sat in a so-called high-interest savings account.

So, long story short (and with the benefit of hindsight): I wouldn’t hesitate to take out a long-term mortgage, provided I was confident I could comfortably meet stress-tested repayments.

That said, I’d approach it with a clear strategy, using the lower monthly payments as a temporary stepping stone. My plan would be to regularly overpay the debt and remortgage onto better products whenever possible (which is what I’ve always done with my mortgages, including shorter terms). I have no interest in staying in debt longer than necessary.

Make of that what you will.

Landlord out xo