Can you get a buy-to-let mortgage on a property with tenants in situ? A specialist lender’s view

Found a tenanted property but been told the tenants have to leave before you can get a mortgage? That is not universally true. We put the question to Roma Finance, a specialist property lender.

Roma Finance is a UK specialist property lender offering bridging, development, buy-to-let and commercial finance. LP Exchange works with Roma Finance. The commentary on this page is theirs, given in September 2026, and none of it is mortgage advice.

We asked Roma Finance four questions about buying a property with the tenants staying. Here is what they said.

Will a specialist lender consider a purchase where the existing tenants remain, and what does it ask to see first?

“In short “yes”. We’d expect the property to be legally compliant for letting – so we’d check the EPC, gas safety certificate, EICR, selective or HMO licensing, or article 4 or planning consent (as appropriate) and ask for a copy of the existing tenancy agreement.”

Samantha Williamson, Commercial Underwriting Manager, Roma Finance, September 2026

With a vacant property, the lender is assessing an estimated rent. With a tenanted purchase, there is already a tenancy agreement and a passing rent to assess.

That changes the questions. Instead of “what could this let for”, the underwriter asks “what is this letting for, under what agreement, and does that agreement come across to the borrower cleanly”. We put each of those to Roma Finance.

The agreement you inherit is the one the lender looks at, so it is the first thing to have in the file.

If the property is in England, one change is worth knowing about. Since 1 May 2026, under GOV.UK guidance, every assured shorthold tenancy has become an assured periodic tenancy, so the seller’s paperwork may still say “AST” on the front. Your conveyancer will confirm what the tenancy now is and whether it transfers to you.

What does a specialist lender look for in the tenancy agreement, and how does it treat the transfer of that tenancy to the buyer?

“The purchaser will inherit the tenant(s) and tenancy agreement. As a lender, we initially check the name of the tenant(s) – are they individuals or companies? If they’re a company then this falls outside the RRA and will often be for a fixed term of, say, 5 years. We check any clauses for who’s responsible for things such as buildings insurance and maintenance. Sometimes it’s assumed that company tenants pay for everything but often they don’t. We’ll also check any occupation/use clauses – we’d expect it to refer to residential occupation and maybe a C3 or C4 use class.”

Samantha Williamson, Commercial Underwriting Manager, Roma Finance, September 2026

A tenant in place means there is a rent already being paid. Whether a lender works from that figure or from the valuer’s estimate of the market rent varies from lender to lender, and it makes a real difference to the size of the loan.

A rent below the local market is a smaller income to lend against, although it also suggests the seller is not inflating the figures. Any yield you work out on the passing rent is simple arithmetic on the rent and the asking price, not a forecast.

How does a specialist lender treat the rent being paid against the valuer’s estimate, and what evidence of the rent does it ask for?

“The standard treatment is to assess affordability using the lower of the valuer’s market rental and the actual passing rent. We’d look at the tenancy agreement plus any recent rent review notices. Roma is fortunate to have a couple of term lending options which can provide some flexibility on the standard approach if there is a shortfall, however, the purchaser should be negotiating a purchase price that reflects that the property may be under-rented and it could take 12 months or more to increase the rent – and even then you may need to do it incrementally over a few years.”

Samantha Williamson, Commercial Underwriting Manager, Roma Finance, September 2026

We asked Roma Finance what, in its experience, most often holds up a tenanted purchase once it reaches underwriting.

The single most common reason a tenanted purchase stalls at underwriting.

“There can often be delays if we need a physical valuation inspection of the property as this needs to be arranged around the tenants. Roma can consider AVMs and desktops in some scenarios – so this avoids the need to disturb the tenant, and is a much quicker process.”

Samantha Williamson, Commercial Underwriting Manager, Roma Finance, September 2026

Have these ready:

1. The current tenancy agreement, and your conveyancer’s note on what type of tenancy it now is.
2. How the tenancy will reach you: a new agreement signed on completion, or the existing one carrying over.
3. Proof of the rent being paid, month by month, from the seller’s or the agent’s bank statements.
4. The passing rent alongside a realistic estimate of the market rent for the property.
5. How the rent is paid, who pays it, and whether the seller has any arrangement with the tenant that outlives the sale.
6. The property’s licensing position, if selective, additional or HMO licensing applies, and its EPC rating.

Run these six checks before paying for a valuation and you are less likely to discover an obvious criteria issue later.

Roma Finance’s answers are its own view, given in September 2026, and are not a statement of its criteria, products or rates. Other lenders take their own view. Nothing here is mortgage advice, and the tenancy law described is England’s; Wales and Scotland are different. A lender saying it will consider a purchase is not an offer to lend on any particular property. Talk to a broker about the property in front of you.

LP Exchange connects landlords who are selling tenanted property with investors who want to buy it with the income already in place. Buyers enquire through a short form to the team, and where a seller has provided them, the tenancy documents and their status are surfaced upfront, so the checklist above starts with the paperwork in hand rather than a request to the agent.

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