PARADIGM MORTGAGE NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2026 www.paradigm.co.uk/mortgages
CONTENTS 4 Paradigm Mortgage Services Introduction from Paradigm Richard Howes 8 The Mortgage Lender The Rise of the Bold Borrower: Why the Mortgage Market Must Adapt to Modern Income 12 CHL Mortgages No Need to Bridge. No Need to Switch. 18 Paradigm Introducing Paradigm's Complex BTL Collective Inbox Louise Weiss 11 Paradigm A Practical Guide to Creating PDFs Amarjot Butcher 21 Paradigm The Agency: Maximising the Value of your Firm on Exit... Whenever it Comes David Ryder 22 Paradigm Artificial Intelligence: What it Means for your Firm David Ryder
resi Unlock clients more for your Specialist lending for more of the cases you see every day. From first-time buyers to clients with complex income or past credit challenges, discover what's new across our residential mortgage range. FOR INTERMEDIARY USE ONLY Aldermore Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register number: 204503). Registered Office: Apex Plaza, Forbury Road, Reading, RGl lAX. Registered in England. Company No. 947662. Invoice Finance, Commercial Mortgages, Property Development, Buy-To-Let Mortgages and Asset Finance lending to limited companies are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority or Prudential Regulation Authority. Asset Finance lending where an exemption within the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 applies, is exempt from regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority or Prudential Regulation Authority. See what’s new →
Richard Howes Managing Director of Mortgages Mortgage Market Update 4 Welcome to our Autumn edition of the Paradigm newsletter. Now the summer is over you could say we are entering the “business” end of the year as we head into darker nights and hopefully milder temperatures! It would be easy to look at the current UK housing and lending market and see only headwinds. There's no shortage of them. Between rising swap rates, a sluggish economy, global instability, patchy housing supply, shifting buyer demand, a regulatory agenda that never seems to slow down, and now a growing push to adopt AI before anyone is quite sure it is ready, as a broker you could be forgiven for feeling you are navigating the market with one hand tied behind your back. If we look at the market we should perhaps start with the part everyone feels first: the cost of a mortgage. At the time of writing, swap rates have been climbing again after a calmer summer. The two-year swap reached 4.26% as of early September, up from 4.06% a month before, while the five-year swap rose from 4.16% to 4.36% over the same period. That has fed straight through to the products, with the average two-year fixed rates now sitting at or around 5.60% and five-year fixes around 5.66%, both higher than the levels seen earlier in the year according to Moneyfacts. Due to the upward momentum of swap rates many lenders have re-priced upwards including the top six. This will put real pressure on lenders as we enter the final quarter of the year as they weigh up the need to decide about margin versus pipeline for 2027. The Bank of England, as I am sure you now know, decided to hold the Base Rate at 3.75%. The hold means the base rate has now remained at 3.75% for six consecutive months and was perhaps understandable given where the latest inflation pressure has come from. The continuing conflict in the Middle East has been a significant driver of the recent rise in inflation and swap rates, adding a layer of geopolitical uncertainty that markets have had to price in on top of ordinary domestic economic conditions. Wholesale funding markets are sensitive to exactly this kind of shock, and mortgage pricing inevitably follows where the wholesale market leads. It is worth remembering, though, that the current pressure has a different character to the volatility seen around the 2022 mini-Budget. This time it has not been driven by UK fiscal policy, which means lenders have responded calmly, repricing where needed rather than withdrawing ranges wholesale, in contrast to the sharper reactions of a few years ago. The supply and demand picture around housing is, characteristically, mixed. On the At a Glance: The cost of Borrowing 4.26% 2-year swap, early September (up from 4.06%) 4.36% 5-year swap (up from 4.16%) 5.60% Average 2-year fix (Moneyfacts) 5.66% Average 5-year fix (Moneyfacts) Bank of England Base Rate 3.75% Now held for six consecutive months
Continued on next page... 5 supply side, the number of homes available for sale has increased across much of the UK, reportedly the highest level in eleven years, with roughly 6% more properties on the market than at the same point last year. That gives buyers more choice, but it also means sellers need to be realistic on price and brokers need to manage expectations on timescales, since more choice tends to lengthen the decision-making process rather than shorten it. Demand tells a more nuanced story. House price growth remains modest but positive, with Nationwide reporting annual growth of 1.6% in August, Halifax close to flat at 0.1%, and the ONS showing a stronger 2.0% to June, the first time in several quarters that the major indices have broadly agreed with one another. First-time buyers continue to face the sharpest squeeze on the demand side. Suitable stock for first-time buyers accounts for only around 1.7% of all homes currently listed, down from 2.1% at the start of the year, and the proportion of first-time buyer homes selling subject to contract eased to 32.9% in the second quarter. That is a real constraint, and one where your advice, particularly on schemes and product innovation, continues to add tangible value. On the supply side longer term, housebuilding starts in England rose 23% quarter on quarter and 24% year on year in the final quarter of last year, which should gradually add stock through 2027, even if it does little to ease the squeeze this year. As ever, the regulatory agenda shows no sign of easing. Consumer Duty remains a live, ongoing obligation rather than a box ticked in 2023, with the requirement to continue to embed it into product reviews, fair value assessments and client communications. I think it is appreciated it touches everything from how a recommendation is evidenced to how clearly a product's costs and risks are explained, and that scrutiny is only becoming more embedded in day-to-day practice rather than less. Alongside that, wider market shifts, including the Renters' Rights Act reshaping parts of the private rented sector, are changing the environment in which landlord clients operate, with knock-on implications for buy-to-let advice, tenancy structures and the calculations landlords need to run before deciding whether to stay in the market at all. "Consumer Duty remains a live, ongoing obligation rather than a box ticked in 2023." We at Paradigm appreciate none of this is comfortable to sit through as a compliance workload. Documentation requirements, file evidencing and ongoing suitability reviews all add time and cost to your working week, at exactly the point when client volumes and case complexity are also rising. But it is worth holding onto the underlying purpose: a regulatory framework built around fair treatment and good outcomes is also a framework that supports trust in advice, at a time when trust is precisely what clients are looking for from their broker. Firms that treat the requirements as a genuine discipline, rather than a paperwork exercise, tend to find the two things reinforce each other: Housing Supply Homes for sale at their highest levels in 11 years +6% More properties on the market than this time last year Housing Demand at a Glance: 1.6% Nationwide, annual growth 0.1% Halifax, annual growth 2.0% ONS, annual growth to June 1.7% Share of listings suitable for first-time buyers (down from 2.1%)
6 better records make for better conversations with clients, and better conversations make the records easier to produce. I couldn’t introduce this quarter's newsletter without mentioning AI! I think it's fair to say we are all under pressure to be seen adopting AI, whether that is in underwriting, document processing, customer contact or advice support. Some of that pressure is fair: there is genuine potential in the technology, and firms that ignore it entirely risk being left behind. But a good deal of the current push is running ahead of the evidence. Processing capability in many cases remains unproven at scale, and the true cost, in system integration, in ongoing model oversight, and in the compliance resource needed to keep pace with a live regulatory conversation on AI, is not yet properly costed by many of the firms adopting it. The customer side of the equation is just as uncertain. Firms are, in effect, running a live experiment on how borrowers respond to AI-assisted processes, from chat-based triage through to automated document checks, without a clear evidence base for how that lands with people making one of the largest financial decisions of their lives. Some clients will be entirely comfortable with it; others will want a human involved at every stage, particularly where a case is complex or a client is vulnerable. Consumer Duty does not go away simply because a process has been automated, and a firm that cannot evidence good outcomes from an AI-assisted journey is exposed in exactly the same way as one that cannot evidence them from a human one. We believe brokers are well placed to see this clearly, because they sit closest to the client reaction that lenders, several steps removed from the point of advice, are often the last to hear about. None of this is a case against AI. It is a case for proceeding at the pace the evidence supports, rather than the pace competitive anxiety dictates. Firms that treat this year as a period of careful testing, clear cost accounting and honest measurement of customer response will be in a far stronger position than those that adopt quickly and unpick problems later. For brokers, that measured approach is also a point of genuine differentiation: the ability to say, credibly, that technology is being used to support advice rather than to replace the judgement clients are paying for. To help in your AI decisions Paradigm have revamped our AI hub which can be found at the Paradigm website. It will give you market data, practical guidance on what AI means for your firm and your marketing, and advice on using it responsibly (client confidentiality, accuracy, record keeping and cybersecurity). If you are not sure about where your business currently is regarding AI you can take our free and unique AI readiness scorecard on the hub and find out in minutes. The hub can be found at: Artificial Intelligence. At Paradigm we believe, “you don’t need chips with everything”! Despite all the issues in the market and those outside that still influence it, there is a reasonably solid case for cautious optimism. This is not 2008, and it is not 2022 either. RSM UK's housing tracker points to price increases of 3 to 4% in more affordable regions over the year ahead, and an estimated 220,000 fewer rental homes by the end of 2026, as landlords exit in response to regulatory and tax changes, is gradually pushing more stock towards buyers in some areas, even if the effect is uneven across the country. Buyer demand, The Case for Cautious Optimism 3 to 4% Forecast price growth in more affordable regions over the year ahead (RSM UK) 220,000 Estimated fall in rental homes by the end of 2026, releasing stock to buyers
while cautious, has not collapsed; agreed sales and enquiries continue to move, even if more slowly than brokers might like. And critically, lenders remain competitive. Product choice is wide, criteria continue to evolve, and firms are still actively pursuing business rather than retreating from the market. That competitive instinct among lenders is good news for brokers and clients alike, because it means innovation, in pricing and in product design, has not gone away. I am sure we can all agree UK mortgage rates are higher than anyone would like, the economic and geopolitical backdrop remains genuinely uncertain, housing supply and demand are pulling in different directions depending on where in the country you look, the regulatory workload keeps growing, and the market is now also wrestling with how fast to move on AI before the costs and customer impact are properly understood. All of that is real, and none of it should be waved away. But we have been here before where brokers have navigated volatile markets, and the fundamentals of the job, helping people make sound decisions when the picture is unclear, have never mattered more than they do right now. Uncertainty creates work for good advice, not less demand for it. There is plenty in the pages that follow to keep a close eye on, and just as much reason to feel positive about the role brokers have to play in the months ahead. For you as an adviser on the ground, that positivity could translate into practical focus. Clients approaching the end of a fixed deal in the next six months benefit from an early conversation, given how quickly pricing can move when swap rates shift. First-time buyers need help finding the small pool of suitable stock and understanding which schemes genuinely widen their options. Landlord clients need clear-eyed advice on what the Renters' Rights Act changes mean for their portfolios, rather than a wait-andsee approach. And every client, whatever their situation, benefits from a broker who can explain not just what is happening in the market, but why, and what it means for them specifically. That, in the end, is the value a good broker adds regardless of which way rates are moving, and it is worth remembering on the more difficult days as well as the easier ones. We hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter and my thanks as always go to those who have contributed to this. "Uncertainty creates work for good advice, not less demand for it." 7
The UK's self-employed population has long been a vital contributor to economic growth, innovation and entrepreneurship. Yet despite the significant role they play in the economy, securing a mortgage can still prove more challenging for self-employed borrowers than for those in traditional employment. As the world of work continues to evolve, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the mortgage industry. The Mortgage Lender's Home A-Loan report (2025) highlights the financial pressures many households continue to face, with 38% of adults saying they feel worse off than they did in 2024. In fact, rather than dampening aspirations, today's economic environment appears to be encouraging many prospective homeowners to think differently about how they achieve them. Across the UK, borrowers are becoming increasingly resourceful, entrepreneurial and determined in their pursuit of homeownership. Our research found that 17% of adults have taken on a second job or developed a side hustle to support their financial goals. Meanwhile, nearly half (49%) remain optimistic about their long-term financial future despite current challenges. These findings point to the emergence of what we might call the "bold borrower" – individuals who are actively creating opportunities for themselves rather than waiting for economic conditions to improve. The traditional career path of a single employer, predictable salary progression and long-term job security is becoming less common. They may be running a business, freelancing alongside full-time employment, working as contractors, or building multiple income streams. What unites them is a willingness to adapt and find new routes towards financial security and homeownership. This shift reflects a broader transformation in the UK's workforce. Lender Partner Article The Rise of the Bold Borrower: Why the Mortgage Market Must Adapt to Modern Income 8
For many, this approach offers significant benefits. It can provide greater control over working lives, additional earning potential and the ability to pursue personal ambitions. However, while the world of work has evolved rapidly, parts of the mortgage market are still catching up. Traditional lending models were built around straightforward employment structures and consistent monthly income. Modern borrowers do not always fit those assumptions. Income may fluctuate throughout the year. Earnings may come from multiple sources. A borrower could be employed, self-employed and generating additional income from a side business all at the same time. While these arrangements can strengthen overall financial resilience, they can also create complexity when it comes to mortgage applications. As a result, many borrowers find themselves facing barriers before their application is even fully assessed. The findings from our Home A-Loan report highlight this challenge. While overall mortgage approval rates stand at 71%, outcomes vary significantly for borrowers with more complex financial circumstances. Among applicants with impaired credit histories, approval rates fall to 54%. For first-time buyers, the figure drops further to 46%. These numbers demonstrate that many aspiring homeowners continue to face obstacles despite having the determination and capability to manage homeownership successfully. Importantly, the challenge is not always eligibility. In many cases, it is awareness. Only a quarter (25%) of applicants are familiar with the role specialist lenders can play in supporting non-standard borrowing 9 scenarios. Even more concerning, more than a third (34%) of borrowers who may have benefited from specialist lending support were never referred to a specialist lender at all. This suggests that opportunities are being missed across the advice journey. For brokers, this creates both a responsibility and an opportunity. As client circumstances become increasingly diverse, understanding the full picture of a borrower's financial position is more important than ever. Understanding a client's full earning picture - employment, self-employment, side income - opens up options that a standard income assessment would miss. Specialist lending has evolved significantly in recent years, with many lenders developing more flexible approaches to assessing affordability and income. For borrowers who have built their livelihoods through entrepreneurship, contracting or multiple income sources, these approaches can make a meaningful difference. The mortgage industry must ensure it evolves alongside them. The borrowers of today are not necessarily following conventional paths, but that does not make their ambitions any less valid. In many cases, it reflects a level of adaptability and financial initiative that should be recognised and supported. Continued on next page...
As affordability pressures continue, brokers and lenders have an increasingly important role to play in helping these customers find the right route to homeownership. At The Mortgage Lender, for example, we have continued to evolve our proposition by considering the latest year's trading figures, using pre-tax profit plus salary for limited company directors, supporting applicants with as little as 12 months' trading history and taking a broader view of income sources. These developments reflect a wider market trend towards more flexible underwriting designed around modern working patterns. Lender Partner Article 10 By understanding the realities of modern income and adopting a more flexible perspective on affordability, the industry can help ensure that homeownership remains accessible to those who are working hard to achieve it. Because for today's bold borrowers, the dream of owning a home has not disappeared. They are simply finding new ways to make it happen. Find out more about The Mortgage Lender’s offering. TML Home A-Loan report, 2025. Methodology - Research undertaken on behalf of Shawbrook Bank by Pegasus Insight amongst a nationally representative sample of 2,010 UK adults aged 18+, including 470 mortgagees and 391 private renters. 688 were potential First Time Buyers. Fieldwork completed between 12th and 16th May 2025.
11 Paradigm Think Piece A Practical Guide to Creating PDFs Creating a PDF takes only a few seconds, but it can significantly improve how information is presented to clients. By helping ensure documents remain consistent, accessible and easy to review, PDFs can play a small but valuable role in supporting good consumer outcomes and demonstrating a customerfocused approach to communication. This aligns with the FCA's focus on firms delivering information that consumers can understand and use effectively. The FCA expects firms to communicate information in a way that consumers can understand and act upon. As part of Consumer Duty, firms should consider whether their communications are clear, consistent and presented in a format that reduces the risk of misunderstanding. Whilst Microsoft Word documents remain a common way of drafting and sharing information, PDFs (Portable Document Format) offer several advantages when distributing documents to clients. Unlike Word files, PDFs preserve formatting regardless of the device being used, helping to ensure that important information appears exactly as intended. How could PDFs help your firm? • Maintain a professional and consistent appearance. • Prevent accidental alterations to documents. • Make important disclosures easier to read and review. • Share documents securely with clients. • Ensure documents display correctly across computers, tablets and smartphones. For firms providing suitability reports, disclosure information, client guides or other customer communications, converting documents to PDF can be a simple way to improve the customer experience and support positive Consumer Duty outcomes. Our top tips • Use meaningful headings to make documents easier to navigate. • Avoid excessive technical language. • Consider whether larger fonts might help some clients. • Check that important information is not hidden within images. • Test the document on a smartphone before sending. • Keep the file size reasonable when attaching to emails. full guide online Amarjot Butcher Senior Marketing Coordinator Open the doc then select File from the top menu. Choose Save As (or Save a Copy). Select the location where you want to save the document. Under Save as type, choose PDF (*.pdf). Click Save. Your document is now saved as a PDF and can be shared with clients or colleagues. If you do not have the desktop version of Office, there is still an easy alternative. Learn more
For many landlords, spotting a property with improvement potential is often the easy part. The challenge comes in funding the journey from acquisition to a finished, lettable asset. Whether it's a tired rental in need of modernisation, a former owner-occupied property requiring updating, or a purchase where improvements are needed before tenants can move in, the traditional route has typically involved multiple stages of finance. A landlord purchases the property using short-term funding, completes the refurbishment works, and then refinances onto a longer-term buy-to-let mortgage once the property is ready to let. It's a process that has become familiar across the market, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's efficient. Along the way there can be multiple applications, repeated underwriting, valuation costs, legal fees and the ongoing pressure of managing timescales. Borrowers also face the uncertainty that can come with securing an exit route, particularly if market conditions change between the initial purchase and the eventual refinance. For landlords focused on straightforward improvement projects rather than extensive redevelopment, that level of complexity can feel disproportionate to what they're actually trying to achieve. In reality, many landlords simply want to purchase a property, carry out sensible refurbishment works, and get it producing rental income as quickly as possible. They don’t necessarily require specialist development finance or a complex borrowing structure. They simply need a funding solution that reflects the nature of the project. That is the thinking behind CHL Mortgages' new refurbishment buy-to-let proposition which provides landlords with a way to fund both the property and the improvement works through a single mortgage solution. Rather than arranging shortterm funding before switching to a longerterm mortgage later, borrowers can complete the entire journey under one roof. Available up to 75% loan to value, the product enables landlords to purchase or remortgage a property while also accessing funds for eligible refurbishment works. The Lender Partner Article No Need to Bridge. No Need to Switch. 12
experience is designed to be simpler, more streamlined and more predictable, removing many of the steps that historically formed part of the refurbishment process. Importantly, the proposition has been built around the types of refurbishment projects that are common across the private rental sector. Not every landlord is looking to undertake extensive structural works or major redevelopment. Many are instead focused on improvements that can enhance rental appeal, improve condition, increase energy efficiency or help bring older housing stock up to modern tenant expectations. Typical projects may include replacing kitchens or bathrooms, full rewiring, redecoration, flooring, minor repairs and maintenance works. Loft and garage conversions may also be considered where they fall within the scope of the proposition. While these projects may not fundamentally alter a property's structure, they can still have a significant impact on its marketability, tenant appeal and long-term value. This is particularly relevant at a time when landlords face increasing pressure to maintain high-quality accommodation. Tenant expectations continue to evolve, with renters placing greater emphasis on the condition, presentation and functionality of the homes they occupy. At the same time, many landlords are reviewing older properties within their portfolios to ensure they remain competitive in an increasingly professionalised market. Against that backdrop, refurbishment is becoming less about cosmetic enhancement and more about protecting long-term investment performance. However, funding those improvements efficiently remains crucial. One of the key challenges landlords often encounter is that a property requiring refurbishment may not be immediately lettable at the point of purchase. Under some traditional lending routes, that can create additional complexity, requiring borrowers to source separate funding before they can access a standard buy-to-let mortgage. The refurbishment buy-to-let proposition addresses this issue by recognising the reality that many investment properties require work before tenants can move in. The property doesn’t need to be lettable at the point of the initial mortgage advance, giving landlords greater flexibility when acquiring assets that require improvement. This opens opportunities to purchase properties that may have been overlooked by others, while providing a clear pathway towards creating a finished rental product. Certainty also sits at the heart of the proposition. 13 Continued on next page...
One of the attractions of short-term finance has traditionally been its ability to fund works quickly. However, those arrangements often rely on a future refinance to provide the exit strategy. While that approach works successfully for many projects, it can introduce additional costs and an extra layer of complexity. With CHL Mortgages' refurbishment buyto-let products, funds for the agreed refurbishment works are retained at completion and released once those works have been undertaken and verified. This creates a transparent structure that supports the project from start to finish without requiring a subsequent remortgage to access a long-term lending solution. For landlords, that can mean greater confidence over funding arrangements, improved cost certainty and fewer moving parts throughout the life of the project. For brokers, the proposition adds another valuable option to the product toolkit. Every client scenario is different, and refurbishment requirements can vary considerably from one property to the next. While major projects may still require specialist finance solutions, there remains a significant segment of landlords whose ambitions are more straightforward. They’re not creating new units, undertaking substantial structural alterations or managing large-scale developments. They’re improving properties to increase rental appeal and long-term value. Having a solution specifically designed for that type of borrower allows brokers to address an important area of market demand while potentially reducing the complexity involved in delivering an outcome for their clients. By combining acquisition or remortgage funding with support for light refurbishment works, CHL Mortgages has created a proposition that aligns more closely with that objective. The result is a simpler path from purchase to completion, reducing unnecessary complexity while maintaining the flexibility landlords need to enhance their investments. No need to bridge. No need to switch. Just a clearer route from opportunity to incomegenerating asset. Lender Partner Article 14
modamortgages.co.uk ModaMortgages and Chetwood Bank are trading names of Chetwood Financial Limited, company number 09964966. Chetwood Financial Limited is a company registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Ellice Way Wrexham LL13 7YT. Chetwood Financial Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under registration number 740551. Buy to let mortgages for business purposes are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and you will not have any of the protections that the Financial Conduct Authority offers in respect of regulated mortgage contracts or consumer buy to let mortgages. If you wish, you may check the Financial Services Register on the Financial Conduct Authority’s website http://www.fca.org.uk/firms/systems-reporting/register or by contacting the Financial Conduct Authority on 0800 111 6768. Part of INTERMEDIARIES ONLY. Buy to let case? We’re huge fans. Instant DIP!
First-time buyers are among the most vulnerable consumers in the mortgage market, and the case for protecting them is clear, evidence-based and increasingly hard to ignore. FIRST TIME BUYERS DESERVE BETTER. Paradigm is calling on the FCA and the wider industry to make regulated mortgage advice mandatory for all first time buyers. “A proportionate regulatory evolution under Consumer Duty.” Endorsed by: Since launching our campaign calling on the FCA to make regulated mortgage advice mandatory for all first-time buyers earlier this month, the response from across the industry has been remarkable. We have published a full policy paper, secured significant press coverage and gained the formal endorsement of AMI, whose CEO Stephanie Charman has backed the case for mandatory advice as a matter of urgency. Many of our members have already signed the pledge, and the momentum behind this campaign is growing by the day. We’re asking all Paradigm members to consider adding their voice. Read the paper, sign the pledge, and help us make the case to the regulator that the time for change is now. Click here to find out more and sign the pledge. Thank you for your support.
Unique property The key to unlock quirkyness Residential | BTL | Holiday Lets | Self-Build harpendenbs.co.uk/intermediaries Unique property? We’ve got this. • Multi-Dwelling Titles • Listed & Thatched • Up to 20 Acres • Semi-Commercial • Equestrian & Outbuildings Scan the QR code to view all our mortgage products For mortgage intermediaries only
Diane, the buy-to-let landscape has evolved in the last few years. What's driving that shift? Portfolio lending and more sophisticated ownership structures have become a core part of how property investors approach their strategy. Regulatory change continues to evolve whilst landlords are facing more complex decisions around structure, funding and strategy than ever before. Specialist BTL now demands real expertise, strong lender relationships and the ability to find solutions quickly. What type of cases should members be sending into the Complex BTL Collective? Anything that falls outside a straightforward single-property BTL case. That includes SPV and limited company purchases or remortgages, affordability, including top slicing, corporate lets, tenancy types, portfolio landlords, first time landlords, including ex-pats, HMOs, multi-unit freehold blocks, commercial and semi-commercial properties, and more unusual ownership structures like layered holding companies or family investment companies. Paradigm Mortgage Services Introducing Paradigm's Complex BTL Collective Inbox Louise Weiss Director of Sales 18 The BTL market has evolved dramatically. Portfolio lending and sophisticated ownership structures are now core to many property investors' strategies, and specialist BTL demands expertise, strong lender relationships and the ability to identify solutions at speed. That's exactly where Paradigm's support, and the value of your advice, shine. That’s why Diane and I were delighted to introduce in September a new dedicated route for complex cases: the Complex BTL Collective Inbox. I sat down with Diane Jones, Helpdesk Manager to discuss further. Diane Jones heads up Paradigm’s Mortgage Helpdesk, bringing a wealth of specialist lending expertise and a genuine passion for helping advisers find solutions. Often the person advisers turn to when a case feels impossible to place, Diane combines deep market knowledge, strong lender relationships and a collaborative, practical approach. From complex buy-to-let structures to challenging mortgage cases, she leads the team with enthusiasm and a commitment to delivering the outstanding support advisers have come to rely on. "I have worked on the helpdesk for 5 years and have seen many changes. I am so excited to be a part of the new developments!" Send your complex BTL enquiries to the Complex BTL Collective Inbox today. [email protected]
19 Those structures can be complex. What can members do to enable a simpler journey? We recommend advisors provide the full picture from the start. Explain the story behind the case, where the client has come from and where they are heading, this context is what allows a lender to assess a case in a fast and efficient way. For SPVs, holding companies or crossdirector guarantees, provide the ownership structure, group relationships and source of deposit funding up front. This saves a lot of back-and-forth further down the line. Why launch the Complex BTL Collective now? We've already seen how well this model works with the Building Society Collective, which launched in 2022 and has had almost 2,000 member enquiries sent to that inbox since. That told us there's real appetite for a direct line to specialist expertise whilst demand for dedicated BTL support in particular has grown alongside all the complexity landlords are now navigating. What turnaround times can members expect? Lenders within the Complex BTL Collective are working to a specific 24-hour SLA turnaround time, exclusive to Paradigm. The service is built around one email address, backed by a dedicated service team, for a limited panel of lenders. As members will know, the more information you provide up front, the quicker the response from a lender. That's why, as part of our commitment to supporting education, upskilling and growth in this area of lending, we've made a pro forma tool available. It guides members on exactly what information lenders will need. Any final thoughts for members before they try the Complex BTL Collective? If you've got a complex BTL case on your desk where you have a question around ownership structure, an EPC concern, or an affordability query, send it to the Complex BTL Collective inbox today. That's exactly what it's there for. We're looking forward to helping members and their landlord clients navigate this market with more confidence. Why Now? Buy-to-Let at a glance Benefits of using the Complex BTL Collective
We’ve updated our lending criteria for Limited Company borrowers We can now consider subsidiary and ultimate holding companies We’ve removed our restricted Limited Company conveyancer panel A wider range of conveyancer firms to choose from We’ve removed the height restriction for blocks of flats More opportunities to place cases on a wider range of high‐rise properties Self-employed/contractors trading period reduced to 1 full tax year Helping more self-employed landlords access finance sooner We offer £1,000 cashback on our fixed‐rate HMO & MUFB range Supporting landlords with upfront costs on more complex property types At Fleet, we’re always looking for ways to improve and better support brokers and their landlord clients. The Buy-to-Let Specialist Lender Individual | Limited Company | HMO/MUFB Find your Fleet BDM 01252 916 800 [email protected] www.fleetmortgages.co.uk FOR INTERMEDIARY USE ONLY Everything starts with a good conversation Start the buy-to-let conversation with us today Speak to our team and find out what’s new: Check out our products All subject to standard lending criteria.
21 Pre-sale due diligence, before the buyer does it Every acquirer will run detailed due diligence. We can run it first, on your side of the table. It typically covers a sample-based review of advice files and suitability, complaints, adviser competence and supervision records, Consumer Duty evidence, financial promotions and marketing material, permissions and regulatory reporting, and the quality of your client and income MI data for Consumer Duty purposes. You get a clear picture of where the firm stands, a prioritised list of fixes and a realistic view of the time needed to make them. That is often the difference between answering a buyer's questions with confidence and negotiating at a discount. Questions worth asking yourself • Have you thought about what you want the end result to look like for the business? • If a buyer ran due diligence on your files next month, what would they find? • What keeps you awake at night from a compliance point of view? • How much of the business still depends on you personally? The end result does not have to be a sale. Wherever you are on that journey, we can help you build a firm that is worth more and easier to run. To talk it through, visit The Agency page and then speak to your usual Paradigm contact. Paradigm Mortgage Services David Ryder Head of Proposition, Paradigm Consulting We have refreshed The Agency page on our website, and we wanted to bring this element of our proposition to your attention. The Agency helps firms plan and deliver an exit: building the business, preparing it for sale, maximising value at exit and then finding a buyer. Whether you are ten years away (or greater) from stepping back, within five years of it, or simply want to know where you stand, there is something here for you. Value starts with compliance Buyers pay for certainty. One of the biggest things that erodes value, delays a deal or stops it outright is uncertainty about the quality of past advice and the records behind it. Clean, well evidenced files, suitable advice, clear disclosure and a documented Consumer Duty approach make a firm straightforward to buy. Without them, a seller can face price adjustments, deferred consideration, extended warranties and indemnities, or no offer at all. This is exactly where Paradigm Consulting works with firms every day: file reviews and suitability checks, consumer outcomes evidence, T&C records, SM&CR and governance, financial promotions sign-off and technical support on complex cases. Start thinking about selling five years out The firms that achieve the strongest outcomes usually start preparing around five years before they want to sell, because the things that lift a valuation take time to bed in. That means remediating historic advice issues properly, embedding consistent processes across every adviser, reducing the firm's reliance on the owner and tidying the client bank. Firms that come to market with only twelve months' notice often end up selling on the buyer's terms rather than their own. The Agency: Maximising the Value of your Firm on Exit...Whenever it Comes
Paradigm Mortgage Services Artificial Intelligence: What it Means for your Firm David Ryder Head of Proposition, Paradigm Consulting 22 What this means for your firm There are no new FCA rules, but there is a sharper focus under the existing ones. The FCA is clear on several points: • You own the outcome. You remain responsible for client outcomes whoever built the tool. • Oversight must be proven. Human oversight, interaction and intervention need to be identified and evidenced, not assumed. • Clients already trust AI. Many are taking financial cues from AI tools, so check client understanding. AI can often hallucinate, and recent research suggests a high percentage of tools get things wrong on financial matters. • The advice gap is both an opportunity and a threat, with the risk that clients bypass the human adviser altogether. • Fraud, cyber risk and the governance burden on smaller firms are front and centre. AI is already built into tools that many mortgage and protection firms use every day, and the FCA has recently set out, via The Mills Review, how it expects the market to change.
Five immediate actions The FCA has set out five things firms using AI should do now: 1. Confirm which Senior Manager owns AI use, and record it. 2. List every AI tool in use, including advisers' and staff use of general purpose tools such as ChatGPT, and what client data, if any, they touch. 3. Complete due diligence before adopting any AI tool. 4. Define the human role: who checks the output, and against what? 5. Refresh your fraud and cybercrime controls. 23 Look out for Paradigm's coverage of the FCA's good and poor practice examples, which are expected from the regulator later in 2026.
www.paradigm.co.uk/mortgages 0330 053 6061 [email protected]
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