Williams asked whether "it is time to draw this to a close".
Peter Williams of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association has questioned whether mortgage regulation has gone too far in the UK.
With the buy-to-let market having to cope with changes to mortgage tax relief and the PRA’s minimum 5.5% stress test from next year, he suggested it’s time the powers that be stopped introducing new mortgage regulation.
Williams (pictured), who is executive director of IMLA, said: “We have come a long way in the 12 years since formal regulation was introduced but despite that the process of introducing more controls continues.
“It is time to draw this to a close and ask the question of whether regulation has become overbearing and is starting to stifle innovation.
“The upcoming Competition Review [from the Financial Conduct Authority] provides an appropriate opportunity for reflection.”
IMLA would like to see Chancellor Phillip Hammond delay or reverse the tax relief changes.
But according to the association’s H2 2016 Member Survey three quarters of lenders expect the plans to come to fruition along with over half (52%) of brokers.
Three in five lenders (59%) and brokers (58%) reckon the direction of mortgage regulation has blurred the lines of accountability between the two.
