At the end of April 2016 the Bank of England published its proposals for a loan level data collection for buy-to-let. The aim is to capture 99% of the buy-to-let market, with every lender completing in excess of £20m of new buy-to-let lending per annum to be caught by the requirements. Currently 16 lenders provide information on 28 attributes via the Council of Mortgage Lenders (representing 90% of the market). From July 2017 the Bank of England wants 99% of buy-to-let lenders to provide information on some 46 attributes regarding their buy-to-let lending.

The BSA put together a response to the consultation which can be viewed here.

The main recommendations are that:

1. The first reporting deadline should be extended from July 2017 to 1 January 2018 to ensure that firms have the necessary time to implement the necessary underwriting standards and ensure that they can also adhere to the new data requirements;
2. An additional date of 1 July 2018 should be provided for those firms that are unable to hit the beginning of 2018 deadline;
3. There should be consideration of expanding the reporting threshold of new buy-to-let lending per annum from £20m to £50m to ensure that smaller lenders are not unfairly penalized by the new rules.