Mr Smith-Thompson agrees: "The changes in tax legislation have made B2L quite hazardous at the moment. It calls for a substantial knowledge of current tax laws and procedures.
"It is therefore a good idea to partner with an accountant to enhance and compliment the investment advice."
Legal & General Mortgage Club's Mr Duncombe adds: "These changes should be viewed as a perfect opportunity for brokers to get in contact with their clients and share their knowledge of these buy-to-let changes."
Paperwork
Documentation is essential, especially with complex buy-to-let cases, where underwriters and lenders may need to see more detailed paperwork.
Mr Ioannou opines: "Come October this year, when new rules force lenders into tougher assessments, landlords with four or more mortgaged buy-to-let properties may need to submit individual income and mortgage details each time a further property is purchased or an existing one is refinanced."
Bigger deposits
Your clients may need more sizeable deposits to meet new and tougher lender criteria for complex buy-to-let cases, so some advice on how to save up may also be required.
As Mr Ioannou states: "Further changes to lenders' assessments and stress test rates may leave potential buy-to-let investors needing to put down far greater deposits.
"Needing a bigger deposit at the extreme end may now mean a potential investor is no longer able to afford to invest in a buy-to-let property. At the very least, it impacts on their level of gearing; which may reduce potential net yields, meaning far less income from your capital."
Again, if the adviser is authorised to carry out investment advice, this is fine but if not, a mortgage broker may need to work with a qualified investment advisers.
Contingency plans
The CML's Profile of UK Private Landlords report outlined concerns among buy-to-let landlords over how they would cope with anticipated drops in income over the next five years.
Some 41 per cent of buy-to-let landlords believed in order to bolster their income, they would have to raise rents for new tenants, while 34 per cent said they would have to do so for existing tenants.
However, this was seen as a 'last resort' rather than an initial, main response.
The consideration, however, must be for advisers to make sure their buy-to-let clients can afford to repay the mortgage in tougher times, in anticipation of falling incomes and potentially higher interest rates.
This is all the more pertinent as rental yields in Q1 2017 showed a contraction between the usually higher yields on complex properties such as HMOs and SCPs, and the traditionally lower yields on MUFB and 'vanilla' buy to lets, data from Mortgages for Business revealed.
For example, for semi-commercial properties, there was a "rapidly fluctuating" set of results, with "more limited activity than usual in Q1 2017.
