For the second time this week (and it’s only Wednesday) a lender has announced cheaper mortgage loans for buy to let landlords whose properties have good energy efficiency.

Keystone says its new Green Product Range rewards landlords who make their homes more energy efficient. 

“We now offer a 0.15 per cent reduction on our core range, these rates are open to landlords with properties five years or older, and with an EPC rating of A to C” says the lender. 

Its Green Product Range rates start at 3.04 per cent for a two-year fixed rate, and 3.19 per cent for five-year fixed rates. These are available for purchase or remortgage on all properties including HMOs and multi-units, with a maximum loan size of £1m.

A statement from Keystone continues: “Not only are we launching this exciting product range, we will also be partnering with environmental group Make It Wild to help with offsetting Keystone’s carbon footprint. MIW will plant one tree for each green mortgage application completed with us.”

Keystone chief executive David Whittaker says: “The climate crisis is the greatest challenge of our, or indeed any, generation and the only way we can solve it is if we all play a part, including the mortgage and property sectors.

“At 14 per cent of total emissions, the UK’s ageing and inefficient housing stock has a far greater carbon footprint than the farming industry in this country and nearly as much as its shops and offices.

“Therefore, it’s clear we need to do something – and urgently. Going out and buying a new build with an A or B EPC rating is not an option for most and won’t solve the problem. So what we need is a retrofitting programme on existing properties the likes of which we have never seen before in this country.

“That’s why we launched our green mortgage range, to play a small role incentivising landlords to upgrade the energy efficiency ratings of their properties now, not tomorrow or the day after.

“If we can persuade even a few landlords to make their homes greener – and lower the energy bills of their tenants in the process – then this range will have achieved everything we wanted it to achieve.”

Yesterday we reported The Mortgage Works had introduced similar loan incentives for landlords whose properties had good EPC ratings.