In a move indicating growing confidence in the UK buy-to-let market, lender Kent Reliance has ditched its former requirement for landlord borrowers to prove they have an income independent of their rental property.

For many years mortgage lenders were happy to lend to buy-to-let investors as long as the income generated by the rent paid on the property in question was equivalent to 125% of the monthly mortgage repayment.

However, since the credit crisis, most introduced additional requirements, demanding that landlords also had other sources of income.

Kent Reliance has now dropped that added requirement.

Tony Salentino, director at Complete FS, said this is a sign of growing confidence in the market and the belief among lenders that the sector is entering a new period of sustainable growth.

He said:

“This is a strong sign from a major BTL lender that the sector is looking forward to 2014 with confidence. The minimum income requirement has become a nuisance in the buy-to-let field and while it might have had a purpose as the industry emerged from the worst of the recession and rental income was likely to fluctuate, in today’s market we have seen huge demand for rental property and corresponding extremely healthy increases in rental income year on year.”

Andrew Ferguson, head of sales & distribution at Kent Reliance said:

“We have become increasingly confident in the buy-to-let sector and having examined the way in which our book has performed, allied to the growing evidence of the strength of the rental market, we felt that insistence on a minimum income requirement was becoming less and less relevant as a measure of affordability. We shall however keep it under review.”