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		EU mortgage legislation must not penalise buy-to-let landlords Wednesday, 30th November 2011 Draft EU rules for residential mortgages could hit UK buy-to-let mortgages and severely damage the British private rental market. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: "In the run up to the credit crisis there was irresponsible lending by some mortgage companies in some countries. The European Commission has drafted a piece of legislation intending to prevent this. However their draft rules are deeply prescriptive, fail to recognised differences in different countries and could result in huge extra costs for house owners. "Buy-to-let mortgages are key to the UK rental market and we properly regulate them. Unless exempted from the EU rules, lenders will not be able to count rental income when making mortgage offers. As a result this will hit private landlords using their savings or pensions to buy and rent out properties. "This is another example of the EU trying to write one size fits all laws when in reality property markets in different countries vary widely. We are working closely with the UK government and MEPs from many other countries to ensure that different national markets are respected"