The Mansfield Building Society has launched a new holiday buy-to-let product, allowing loans up to 70% LTV.

Properties used for holiday lets must qualify as a Furnished Holiday Let under the HM Revenue and Customs definition and have a minimum valuation of £150,000.

The Mansfield will allow holiday let landlords to occupy the property themselves for up to 60 days per year, and will also consider earned income and/or other personal wealth to support rental income when assessing affordability (Top Slicing).

Like a number of other lenders in the market, bed and breakfast accommodation, AirBnBs and holiday complexes are not accepted.

Lending is available on its specialist buy to let mortgage with the following features:

• Three-year discounted variable rate
• 3.49% pay rate (2.10% below SVR)
• Application fee £199
• Completion fee £1,800 (which can be added to the loan)
• Available for purchase or remortgage

Richard Crisp, the Mansfield’s commercial development executive, claimed that the Mansfield remained committed to supporting a healthy and diverse rental sector:

He said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be offering holiday buy-to-lets. We believe our pragmatic and common sense approach will be well received by brokers and landlords alike.

“As a mutual building society, we want to help brokers maximise the opportunities they come across on a daily basis by providing solutions that meet this growing demand – lending on holiday lets is the latest addition to our extensive range that already includes expat, business, consumer and regulated ‘family’ buy-to-let mortgages.

“We see a strong future for holiday lets in the UK with the implications of Brexit likely to reduce appetite for overseas investment. However, Brexit fallout aside, let’s not forget the favourable tax treatment furnished holiday lets continue to receive compared to other forms of residential property letting under HM Revenue & Customs rules. We believe holiday lets provide a credible opportunity for landlords to extend and strengthen their investment portfolios but appropriate advice should be considered a prerequisite.

“Feedback from brokers suggested that we needed to make our products accessible and flexible, so we are pleased to confirm that our holiday let product includes top slicing and capital raising, enabling more investors to unlock more value from their investment portfolios.”