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HTG Mortgages

Family Buy to Let Mortgages | Letting to Family Is Regulated Lending

Last Updated: August 2026

Featured in The Telegraph • Daily Mail • The Times • Sky News

A buy to let where a close family member will live in the property is not a normal buy to let. The FCA treats it as regulated lending, closer to a residential mortgage, and lenders call it a family buy to let or regulated buy to let. Fewer lenders offer it, and the ones that do assess it differently. I arrange these whole of market, with a flat £350 fee, alongside the rest of my buy to let work.

Letting to close family makes the loan a regulated buy to let, assessed more like a residential mortgage

It is the relationship that regulates the loan, not the rent you charge

A smaller pool of lenders offers these, so whole-of-market access matters more than usual

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As featured in…

Harry Goodliffe, director and FCA-authorised mortgage advisor at HTG Mortgages, at his desk

Meet your Advisor

Harry Goodliffe

  • FCA Authorised
  • Director & Mortgage Advisor

“I‘m not about confusing jargon or passing you from person to person. From our first chat to the day you get the keys, you’ll deal directly with me. I‘ll keep you updated, answer any burning questions, and do everything I can to make the whole process as stress-free as possible.”

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How I place a family buy to let

1

Step 1

First Chat

Tell me who will live in the property, how they are related to you, the rent they will genuinely pay, and whether you are buying or remortgaging. Honesty here shapes everything else.

2

Step 2

Research

I match your case to the smaller pool of lenders that offer regulated buy to let, with affordability built on your income as well as the rent.

3

Step 3

Application

If the numbers work, I handle the application and stay the point of contact through valuation, underwriting and offer.

4

Step 4

Completion

Your mortgage offer is issued and my flat £350 fee becomes payable. If no offer is issued, you owe me nothing.

About

Our approach.

Lenders treat letting to close family differently because the regulator does: a buy to let with a close relative living in the property is a regulated mortgage contract, closer to a residential loan than a standard buy to let. In practice that means a smaller pool of lenders and an affordability test built on your income, not just the rent, because family arrangements often run on below-market rent.

One thing worth knowing before you promise anyone a home: charging a full market rent does not change the position. It is the relationship that makes the loan regulated, not the rent. Fewer lenders does not mean no lenders, and the right one depends on your income, the property and what your family member will actually pay.

Whole-of-Market Access

Whole-of-market comparison across 120+ lenders

One Flat Fee

A flat £350 fee, payable only once your mortgage offer is issued

Honest Advice

If the right answer is to do nothing, I will say so

Outside My Scope

I do not offer equity release

Speak to an expert

Thinking of letting a property to a family member? Call me on 01425 203055 or email info@htgmortgages.com. No charge for working out where you stand.

Get in touch

How I help

I know which lenders genuinely take regulated buy to let cases and how each one tests affordability, so nothing gets submitted to a lender that was never going to say yes. I will also tell you plainly if the honest structure is different from the one you had in mind, because running a family let on a standard buy to let mortgage breaches its terms. If your situation is an accidental landlord one rather than a family one, consumer buy to let is the page you want.

Who this is for

Parents buying a property for a student child to live in (my student buy to let guide covers that route), children housing a parent, siblings sharing, and anyone a mainstream buy to let lender has turned away because family will live in the property.

Why use HTG’s mortgage services?

Available 24/7, so we are always there to help when you need us

We are an independently owned, whole-of-market mortgage broker offering first-charge mortgages

We provide unrivalled customer service, ensuring that you get the care you deserve

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Let’s get your mortgage sorted

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Frequently Asked Questions

Have another question?

A buy to let mortgage for a property that a close family member will live in. Because the tenant is family, the loan is regulated by the FCA and works more like a residential mortgage: fewer lenders, and affordability assessed on your income as well as the rent.

Because the regulator assumes a family arrangement is not a pure business one. Family tenants often pay below-market rent, and a landlord is unlikely to treat a parent or child at arm’s length, so the borrower gets residential-style protection and the lender applies residential-style checks.

Close family: typically a spouse or partner, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild or sibling. Letting to a cousin or a friend is normally an ordinary buy to let. If the mix is unclear, tell me who is living there and I will tell you which side of the line the case sits.

Both. Expect the lender to look at your income and outgoings in the way a residential application would, with the rent as supporting context rather than the whole answer. That is the big practical difference from a standard buy to let, where the rent does the qualifying.

Usually, yes, and it is one of the reasons this product exists. Lenders in this space expect below-market family rents and build the affordability test around your income instead. What you should not do is inflate the declared rent to make a case fit.

No, and it matters. Letting to close family on a standard buy to let mortgage breaches the mortgage terms, and misdescribing who will live in the property on an application is misrepresentation. The regulated route exists precisely so this can be done properly.

Deposits in this corner of the market vary by lender, and the pool is small enough that I check live criteria rather than quote a single figure. Come with the deposit you have and I will tell you what it genuinely unlocks.

Regulated (family) buy to let is about who the tenant is: close family living in the property. Consumer buy to let is about who the landlord is: someone letting a property they did not buy as a business, the classic accidental landlord. Different rules, different lender pools, and I arrange both.

Harry Goodliffe
Written by Harry Goodliffe
Director & Mortgage Adviser, HTG Mortgages  ·  FCA Authorised (1017945)
CeMAP Qualified  ·  Featured in National Press  ·  South England Prestige Awards 2026/27 winner

FCA Register

Related reading: can you live in your own buy to let property.

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