As long as the rental income on your existing property will pay your old mortgage, lenders who offer this type of loan will usually offer you a mortgage for the new property based on the normal income multiples, even though you already have an existing property. This means that you end up with two mortgages at normal owner-occupier rates, therefore avoiding the slightly more expensive buy-to-let mortgages.

You will normally need only 5 - 10 percent as a deposit under a let-to-buy scheme. This is considerably less than the 15 percent that is normally required with a buy-to-let mortgage and can be in itself a good reason to go for this type of arrangement.

Another fairly common reason for this sort of scheme is if your circumstances have changed, for instance your kids have moved away leaving you in need of a smaller more manageable property for yourself, then it can be a good idea to move into a new property yourself and let your existing one out. In such circumstances let to buy can be a good option. You get the benefit of retaining your asset, whilst someone else pays the mortgage for you, as well as having money left over.

You could even let to buy if you do not have a deposit, assuming that you have a reasonable amount of equity in your own home. You can always remortgage your existing home to cover your current mortgage, but also raise an additional sum whilst you are at it, in order to put down as a deposit on the new home you are buying.

If the Let to Buy scheme is of interest to you, contact Gloucester Mortgage Centre to discuss your particular requirements within this growing area of the mortgage market.

The interest rate on this type of product may well be higher than mainstream mortgage rates due to the risk that they represent.