Landlord surge boosts lender

A SURGE in ‘professional’ landlords has boosted profits at Kent Reliance owner OneSavings Bank.

The buy-to-let lender made £78.4m profit in the first half of 2017, up 20pc on the same period last year, and hiked its interim dividend 21pc to 3.5p a share. Chief executive Andy Golding said tax changes were putting off parttime landlords with one or two properties, but demand from those with bigger portfolios remained strong. Large investors are less exposed, especially if they are a limited company as this limits the impact of a stamp duty hike and mortgage tax relief cuts.

The average loan is around £250,000, which bosses said showed its loan book was focused on average- sized family houses and small flats.

It clocked up a 26pc rise in new lending, which climbed to £1.2bn.