CHL Mortgages has reported that its buy-to-let arrears at now at their lowest level for four years.

The specialist lender has revealed that at the end of last month 1.46% of its buy-to-let book was in arrears – 44 basis points lower than the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) average. This represents a continued drop for CHL as arrears stood at 1.69% at the end of 2011.

The latest buy-to-let arrears figures published by the CML for the first quarter of 2012 indicate the three month-rate across the sector standing at around 1.9%, compared to 2% in the owner-occupier market. Second quarter figures will be published in August.

CHL has also revealed a significant number of properties that are now managed by a Receiver of Rent are in an improved position. Of those properties that can be rented out 95% have tenant occupancy while 65% of the accounts under a Receiver of Rent have now been repaired and moved from a default to a positive position.

“The fact our arrear levels have now reached a four-year low and continue to reduce month on month is testament to the hard work carried out by our collections team in helping borrowers in difficulty to arrive at a satisfactory solution for all parties,” said Bob Young (pictured), managing director at CHL Mortgages.

“The strategy we implemented a few years ago around this continues to bear fruit and borrowers appreciate the human touch that our highly-skilled and trained team bring to their work. By having this facility in-house we are able to maintain greater control and contact than if we outsourced what is a vital process to a third party.

“We welcome decreasing arrears levels across the industry and the buy-to-let market as a whole, but are particularly proud that the performance of our own book continues to outshine the national average by some distance. While we may not be currently involved in new lending, we continue to manage well over 43,000 live mortgage accounts, so staying ahead of the curve in this manner is a strong performance.”

Young added: “CHL will continue to work hard in order to keep our arrears levels at such low levels and we fully anticipate greater success in this area over the coming months.”