The mortgage directive, officially known as the Credit Agreements Related to Residential Property Directive, attempted to create a single regulatory framework which would govern all mortgages within the European Union.
David Cox, senior policy officer for the NLA, said: “The NLA is very pleased with the EU’s decision to exclude buy-to-let mortgages from the directive. We have lobbied hard to ensure the UK’s main facility for investing in property to rent can remain in place.
“The private rented sector is currently the only growing part of the UK’s housing market and I am certain that a mortgage directive including buy-to-let mortgages would have prohibited this.
The EU had lobbied hard for this directive so that EU citizens would understand the regularity regimes when purchasing properties in different member states.
But in constructing the directive the EU Commission did not take into account the nuances of unusual mortgage products such as buy-to-let that exist in some member states.
The original directive which was sent to the European parliament included text which would have made buy-to-let mortgages illegal.
The NLA has worked with several European parliaments and through pan-European associations such as the International Union of Property Owners and other UK and EU trade bodies to secure a complete exemption for buy-to-let mortgages from the directive.
The final text is now going through the trialogue process which involves all 27 heads of state and the European parliament who will analyse the new revised before voting on the new directive to sign it off.
Cox said: “This really is a success for the NLA and its European colleagues.”
