MortgagesJul 16 2021

BTL fintechs join up services for landlords

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BTL fintechs join up services for landlords
Image by Gino Crescoli from Pixabay

GetGround, a start-up helping landlords buy and manage UK rental property, has integrated its services with digital buy-to-let mortgage lender Molo Finance.

This will see the fintech firms join up their platforms, meaning landlords and buy-to-let investors will be able to form a company, open a current account, and secure mortgage financing in one fell swoop.

Previously GetGround’s customers were going to various third-parties to secure a buy-to-let mortgage to fund their investment purchases, while Molo’s customers were also looking elsewhere for ways to create a vehicle through which they could purchase their properties.

Molo's co-founder and CEO Francesca Carlesi said “an increasing number” of its customers want to buy their properties through companies, rather than enter into personal ownership.

She added: “There was previously a gap in the market for platforms that helped them do so with the sort of pace, flexibility and competency that’s needed.”

Molo, launched back in 2018, claims to be the UK’s “first” fully digital, direct to consumer, mortgage lender. In the near future, it plans to offer residential mortgages alongside its buy-to-let product suite. 

Its new partner GetGround landed an undisclosed Series A last month from QED Investors, the venture capital firm propping up the likes of Klarna and Zopa.

The start-up, launched 18 months ago, charges landlords up to a £1,000 one-time fee, and then £20 per month to run their companies for them.

GetGround’s co-founder and CEO, Moubin Faizullah-Khan, reckons this type of joined up service has “never existed before” on the UK market.

He continued: “It’s an innovation that significantly reduces the cost, time and admin-induced headaches that these requirements all too often create for our customers when handled in isolation.”

For GetGround, its partnership with Molo marks the fintech firm’s first ever relationship with a lender. Faizullah-Khan said GetGround’s “tech savvy” landlords and buy-to-let investors “want and expect the same high level of service from their mortgage lender” it currently offers them.

“Molo’s digital approach is fast setting the standard for mortgage lending in the sector,” Faizullah-Khan added.

Whilst the latest partnership signals GetGround’s first lender integration, it is not its first fintech integration. The start-up feeds into identity checker Onfido, cross-border payments firm Currencycloud, and payments provider Modulr. It also plugs into Companies House via an application programme interface.

Asked which companies pose competition to fintech firms like GetGround, Faizullah-Khan told FTAdviser: “There are parts of us in various places in the market. Company formation agents help landlords set up a company. Accountants help with tax returns. Structuring lawyers help with shareholder agreements. Banks provide them with bank accounts.

"But we’re the first to pull together all these services.”

ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com