What “no minimum income” means for buy-to-let mortgages, plus a clearly dated 2019 survey of 60 lenders’ income criteria. Historical figures are not current lender criteria.
Buy-to-Let Minimum Income Requirements
A common concern for property investors contemplating a new buy-to-let investment is whether they earn enough income. Unfortunately, industry terminology often makes the answer confusing. You may hear that you don't need any income for a buy-to-let mortgage. That isn't what “no minimum income” means.
Related guides:
- Criteria for personal-name buy-to-let mortgages
- Proof of income for a buy-to-let mortgage
- Using rental income to qualify for a buy-to-let mortgage
- Buy-to-let mortgage stress tests and affordability
No minimum income is not the same as no income
A lender with no set minimum personal-income threshold may be more flexible than one requiring, say, £25,000 a year. But the lender may still want to know how you cover your living costs and meet your commitments. The distinction matters if you have a modest income, or receive income from a pension or benefits rather than employment or self-employment. Whether a particular income source is acceptable depends on the lender's criteria.
With no income at all, a lender may worry that rent intended to support the mortgage could instead be needed for your day-to-day expenses. And even without a personal-income floor, the property and expected rent still need to satisfy the lender's buy-to-let affordability assessment.
What our 2019 lender survey found
When the original article was written, we surveyed 60 buy-to-let mortgage lenders about their personal-income requirements:
| Income criterion recorded in the survey | Lenders |
|---|---|
| Complex income criteria | 8 |
| £30,000 minimum income | 4 |
| £25,000 minimum income | 19 |
| £20,000 minimum income | 7 |
| £18,000 minimum income | 3 |
| No stated minimum income | 19 |
| Total | 60 |
The original article described 68% as requiring a set minimum, but its own figures only support that percentage if the eight complex-criteria lenders are grouped with the 33 lenders that had a specified threshold. These 2019 figures should not be used to estimate today's lender availability.
A stated minimum did not always mean every type of income counted. Some lenders did not include rent from existing properties towards the personal-income requirement, which could restrict a professional landlord whose income came largely from a portfolio.
The original survey also found lender-specific exceptions. One lender might ask for £25,000 unless you were an experienced landlord; another might raise the requirement from £30,000 to £75,000 for someone with four or more buy-to-let properties. Other criteria could vary with expatriate status, time owning a buy-to-let, dependants or the size of the mortgage. These were examples from the period, not current lender rules.
What to take away
- A lender's published threshold may not tell the whole story: the income sources it accepts and any portfolio-landlord rules matter too.
- Keeping an independent income source may widen your options, but eligibility depends on the lender and the full application.
- A specialist mortgage adviser can check today's criteria against your circumstances rather than relying on an old survey or a headline threshold.
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