Keep your home, let it out, and buy your next one.
Let-to-buy lets you move without selling. You switch your current home to a buy-to-let, often releasing the deposit for your next place in the process — two mortgages, arranged together, working as one plan.
What is let-to-buy?
Let-to-buy is where you keep the home you currently live in, let it out to tenants, and take a new residential mortgage to buy a different home to move into. It involves two mortgages at once — a buy-to-let on your existing property (usually arranged as a remortgage) and a residential mortgage on the new one — set up together as a single, linked plan.
It's the route for people who want to move but don't want to, or can't easily, sell their current home — perhaps because the market is slow, they want to keep the property as a long-term investment, or they're relocating and may return. Rather than a chain dependent on a sale, you convert your home into a rental and buy onward.
How is let-to-buy different from buy-to-let?
The two sound alike but solve different problems. Buy-to-let is purchasing a property purely to rent out. Let-to-buy is letting out the home you already live in so you can move somewhere new. In let-to-buy, your current residence becomes the rental and you buy a fresh home to occupy — which is why it always involves arranging two mortgages in tandem.
How does the deposit work?
In most let-to-buy plans, remortgaging your current home onto a buy-to-let basis releases equity, and that released cash becomes the deposit for your new home. So rather than needing fresh savings, you unlock the value already sitting in your existing property.
How much you can release depends on your equity, the rent your current home commands (which sets the buy-to-let borrowing via the stress test), and affordability on the new residential mortgage. Because the two are linked, the figures have to work together — which is exactly the kind of thing a broker models across both sides at once. You can also release equity more generally if your plans change.
How is let-to-buy assessed?
The two mortgages are judged differently. The buy-to-let on your current home is assessed mainly on the rent it will earn, via the interest coverage stress test — so it's relatively contractor-friendly. The new residential mortgage is assessed on your income, so it needs a lender that reads your earnings correctly. For a contractor, that means a lender applying contract-based underwriting to your day rate, rather than one that shrinks it.
- Let-to-buy lets you keep and let your current home while buying a new one to live in.
- It involves two linked mortgages: a buy-to-let on your old home, a residential on the new one.
- Remortgaging your current home to buy-to-let can release the deposit for your next purchase.
- The buy-to-let side is assessed on rent; the residential side on your income.
- Contractors need a lender that reads their contract income for the residential mortgage.
Whole-of-market — a selection of the lenders we work with
Let-to-buy, answered
What is let-to-buy?+
Let-to-buy is where you keep your existing home and let it out, while taking a new residential mortgage to buy another home to live in. It involves two mortgages at once: a buy-to-let (often a remortgage) on your current property, and a residential mortgage on the new one. It suits people who want to move without selling their existing home.
How is let-to-buy different from buy-to-let?+
Buy-to-let is buying a property purely to rent out. Let-to-buy is letting out the home you already live in so you can move to a new one. The key difference is that in let-to-buy you're switching your current residence to a rental and buying a fresh home to occupy, which means arranging two linked mortgages together.
Can I release the deposit for my new home from my current one?+
Often yes. Remortgaging your current home onto a buy-to-let basis can release equity, and that released cash can form the deposit for your new residential purchase. The amount depends on your equity, the rent the property commands, and affordability — which is exactly what a broker can model across both mortgages.
Can a contractor use let-to-buy?+
Yes. The buy-to-let side is assessed mainly on rent, so it's relatively contractor-friendly, while the new residential mortgage is assessed on your income — so you need a lender that reads your contract properly. A broker arranges both sides with lenders suited to your situation.