The hacks that could save landlords thousands on buy-to-let mortgages - and it could be as simple as changing the lightbulbs!

Buy-to-let experts have revealed there are several little-known tricks that landlords can use to slash their mortgage costs – in some cases by thousands of pounds a year.

Some 190,000 landlords with mortgages worth more than £26 billion are up for renewal this year.

These tips could prove invaluable for the many who are facing steep monthly payment increases.

The most severe cost shock will come for the landlords who last took out a mortgage five years ago: a monthly rise of around 70 per cent if you’re remortgaging this spring.

Back in April 2020, when the base rate was 0.1 per cent, the average five-year fixed-rate buy-to-let deal was priced at 3.16 per cent, according to financial data experts Moneyfacts Compare. Now, that cost has risen to 5.37 per cent.

On a £150,000 mortgage offered on an interest-only basis at 3.16 per cent, a landlord would pay £395 a month. On the higher rate of 5.37 per cent, that jumps to £671 a month. Here’s how to cut the cost of your next remortgage, according to buy-to-let experts:

Make sure your Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is up to date and accurate.

All rental properties must have an EPC, which shows how energy efficient the property is using a rating system of A to G; A being the most efficient and G the least.

This year, privately rented properties must have a minimum rating of E but by 2030 this is being raised to C. Some mortgage lenders offer discounts to homes rated A and B, such as the Barclays Green Home plan at 4.57 per cent compared to its standard remortgage rate of 4.8 per cent.

Jason Wilde, head of sales at Paragon Bank, says: ‘If you’ve had any work done to the property, which doesn’t need to be major, such as replacing a couple of windows or doors or changing over to energy efficient spotlights, get a new EPC assessment. It may push your home up from a D to a C rate.’

A poll by Paragon Bank found that 57 per cent of landlords did not arrange a new EPC after completing upgrades.

Check the accuracy of your EPC by comparing what the assessor recorded.

Mistakes can always creep in and push it up. If walls have been incorrectly marked as not insulated, for example, this could affect your score.

A quick credit check before applying for a remortgage to make sure there are no errors or blips could make a big difference to the rate you are offered, as landlord Paul Fewings discovered.

Paul, 47, who lives in Cottingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, uses a limited company to hold his buy-to-let properties.

When his previous deal of 2.95 per cent was due to expire, his broker found a two-year fixed deal at 5.45 per cent.

But then the lender called to say it could not honour the rate and instead offered him 6 per cent. Due to his low credit score, it would offer him only the higher rate as he was seen as a greater lending risk.

It turned out his score had been hit because he was not on the electoral roll.

The £47-a-month increase would have left Paul a further £1,128 out of pocket over the two years.

‘I’d moved just a few months before and, although I had added myself to the electoral roll at my new address, the register had not been updated and I wasn’t showing up,’ says Paul, who is married to Aline, 34, and has two children.

The lender finally agreed to give him the lower rate when he provided a letter from the council saying he was due to be added to the register.

Not increasing the rent for multiple years may be good deal for your tenants but could stop you from getting the best rates.

As interest rates have risen, passing a lender’s affordability test has become trickier. To be granted a mortgage, landlords must receive a monthly rent which is between 125 per cent and 145 per cent of the mortgage payment. In the past five years some landlords remortgaging have found the rent they currently charge falls short of these lender requirements.

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Sticking with the same lender through a new deal can be a way to avoid going through a new affordability assessment, but not all lenders offer this service.

If you fail the affordability tests you may end up paying higher costs on a standard variable rate, which can be 9 per cent or even higher, while shopping around for a new lender with more flexible criteria, or while you serve notice on your tenants of a rent increase.

Upping the rent by a large amount in one go, by £150 a month for example, you risk causing your tenants to move, leaving you with no income while you search for new ones.

To avoid this, Paul says he carries out regular annual reviews to increase rents by small manageable amounts which means he can keep ahead of the stress test increases when it’s time to remortgage without upsetting his tenants.

If you have made changes to your property since you took out your last mortgage, you may struggle to remortgage without showing the correct planning permission.

Jason Wilde says this is common among landlords who have converted their buy-to-let into a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO).

Planning permission is not always needed, but some councils have strict rules in place which dictate all HMO conversions need to be approved first.

Not having planning permission in place ahead of your remortgage can cause months of delays.

During which time, you will be forced on to a standard variable rate while you apply for retrospective planning.

To help landlords pass stress tests now that interest rates are higher, some lenders are offering lower rates with much higher fees that can be added to the mortgage.

Taking a low rate, high fee deal is one way to avoid being trapped on a standard variable rate if you are unable to pass an affordability test.

Before doing so, it is vital to take advice from a broker about whether this is the best course of action, as fees can run into the tens of thousands depending on the size of your loan.

For example, Molo Finance is offering a two-year fixed rate of 3.03 per cent, akin to rates last seen in 2020, but with a fee of 6.5 per cent attached.

On a £150,000 mortgage, that works out at £9,750. TSB, meanwhile, is offering 4.39 per cent at a fixed cost of £1,995.