Fleet Mortgages has relaunched EPC A-C buy-to-let products while Paragon has trimmed rates across its own landlord range, giving investors another sign that lender competition is moving beyond one-off cuts and into product segmentation.
The latest changes matter because they do not just shave a few basis points off standard pricing. They sharpen the gap between greener stock and older homes, and they give landlords another prompt to think about whether future borrowing costs will depend more heavily on property condition as well as portfolio strength.
For landlords, the immediate point is simple: cheaper debt is still available, but the best pricing is increasingly tied to EPC bands, fee choices and property type. That makes product selection more important than simply chasing the lowest headline rate.
Green pricing gap opens wider in buy-to-let
Fleet has brought back its EPC A-C deals at up to 75% loan to value with a 3% fee, including a 4.39% two-year fix and a 5.04% five-year fix for standard and limited company borrowers. HMO versions are higher at 4.69% and 5.29%, but still sit 10 basis points below Fleet’s equivalent non-EPC products.
Paragon has also cut pricing across two- and five-year fixes, with rates now starting from 3.55% in its green range for single self-contained properties rated EPC A-C. Its five-year green products at 75% LTV begin from 4.75%, while HMO and multi-unit block fixes are priced 15 basis points above the equivalent single-unit green deals.
Steve Cox, chief commercial officer at Fleet Mortgages, said the relaunch showed continued demand from landlords financing more energy-efficient homes and rewarded borrowers who had already reached stronger EPC ratings.
Jason Wilde, head of mortgage sales at Paragon Bank, said many landlords were still choosing higher-fee products to secure lower rates, but wanted flexibility across different portfolio strategies.
This follows Residential Landlord’s recent coverage of specialist lender rate competition, which showed how providers were already using repricing to defend market share. The latest moves suggest the next phase is likely to be more selective, with greener and simpler stock getting the clearest reward.
Implications for landlords weighing upgrades and refinancing
There is a practical warning here for investors holding weaker EPC stock. A landlord with a D-rated house may still find finance, but the pricing edge now looks more likely to sit with cleaner, easier-to-fund properties. That matters not only for purchases, but also for refinancing decisions across older portfolios.
It also ties into a broader funding question. Residential Landlord has already highlighted how lenders are targeting EPC A-C homes, and the pattern is becoming harder to ignore. Product design is starting to do some of the policy work before any new formal EPC deadline lands.
Landlords considering works this year may therefore need to compare three figures rather than one: the upgrade cost, the rent the asset can support, and the borrowing margin they could save over the next fixed term. On some homes the maths will still be tight, but on better stock the finance case is now easier to make.
The underlying source material from Fleet Mortgages and Paragon Bank’s buy-to-let product guide also shows how fee structures remain central. A lower rate does not always mean a cheaper deal overall, especially for smaller loans.
Opinion
Landlords should welcome cheaper finance, but the bigger story is what lenders are choosing to reward. If greener homes keep getting the pricing edge while policy stays unsettled, investors with older stock may find the market forcing decisions long before ministers do.
