Should you fix your buy-to-let mortgage or take a tracker, and for how long?

UK-wide, buy-to-let mortgage choice is mainly a pricing, affordability and exit-risk decision, not a landlord-law rule. Bank Rate was 3.75% after the 29 July 2026 MPC vote, so comparisons built on a 5% base-rate assumption are already out of date.

Should you fix your buy-to-let mortgage or take a tracker?

Most buy-to-let landlords should choose a fixed rate if the tracker is only attractive after several assumed Bank Rate cuts, but a tracker can be better where exit flexibility or short holding period matters more than today’s monthly payment. Bank Rate was held at 3.75% on 29 July 2026, and a base-rate tracker moves with that rate, so the question is not whether tracker mortgages are a good idea now in the abstract; it is whether the current tracker margin, fees and exit terms still beat the fixed-rate cost if cuts are slower, smaller or reversed. UK Finance’s Q1 2026 book shows the market still heavily weighted to fixed BTL borrowing: 1.47 million fixed-rate BTL loans outstanding versus 453,000 variable-rate loans. That does not prove fixed is always better, but it explains why a fixed rate or variable rate comparison normally starts with payment certainty, not a forecast.

Should you fix for two years or five?

A five-year-plus buy-to-let fix can pass affordability at its own rate, while a two-year fix or tracker may be stressed at a 5.5% minimum, so some landlords cannot qualify for the cheaper-looking shorter deal at all. PRA guidance tells lenders to consider likely rates over at least five years unless the rate is fixed or capped for five years or more, and where that carve-out does not apply the lender should assume a minimum borrower rate of 5.5%. That is why a 2 or 5 year fixed mortgage decision in 2026 is not just about the headline gap: Moneyfacts put average BTL rates at 4.70% for two-year fixes and 5.09% for five-year fixes at the start of February 2026, but lender stress tests can make the lower rate unusable. If both pass, a two-year fix suits a landlord expecting to refinance soon; a five-year fixed-rate mortgage suits a landlord who values certainty and avoids repeated fees.

Should you fix if you might sell or move before the deal ends?

The legal right to exit early without an uncapped charge exists only for regulated consumer BTL; unregulated commercial BTL — most professional landlords — sets its own exit charge with no portability requirement, and Paragon told the ombudsman it offers none at all. For consumer BTL, the MCD Order requires the creditor to allow early full or partial discharge and caps compensation at the creditor’s financial loss, but that protection does not make every portfolio or commercial buy-to-let portable. The Financial Ombudsman recorded one Aldermore commercial BTL early-repayment charge at 2.5% then 2% of the amount repaid, and recorded that Paragon does not offer portable products. So if you might sell within a couple of years, a lower five-year fix can be false economy: compare the monthly saving with the specific ERC, sale probability and whether the exact BTL product is portable, not with generic consumer guidance that most mortgages can move property.

Are mortgage rates going up or down?

UK mortgage rates were rising into summer 2026 even though Bank Rate was held at 3.75%, so the safest answer is that rates are not mechanically falling just because the base rate is below its previous peak. The Bank of England says banks usually change loan pricing when Bank Rate changes, but retail mortgage rates also price funding costs, swap rates, lender margins and competition. Moneyfacts reported its average new mortgage rate rising by 0.12 percentage points to 5.59% in early August 2026, and the BBC, citing Moneyfacts, put the average new two-year fix at 5.62% on 30 July 2026, up from 4.83% at the start of March. Five-year mortgage-rate predictions are therefore not a promise of cheaper remortgaging; 3% mortgages can return only if funding markets, inflation expectations and lender pricing move far enough, not merely because borrowers want the 2020–21 market back.

Is a lifetime tracker a good idea?

A lifetime tracker can be a good buy-to-let idea only for a landlord who wants long-term base-rate exposure and low lock-in more than the cheapest fixed payment, because lifetime trackers tend to trade flexibility for rate risk. A lifetime tracker mortgage is not an equity-release lifetime mortgage: it is a mortgage whose rate tracks a benchmark, commonly Bank Rate, for the life of the loan or until redeemed. The product can suit a landlord who expects to sell, refinance opportunistically or keep leverage low enough to absorb rate rises, but it is a poor fit where rental cover is tight or the business needs known payments for several years. The market is also thinner than ordinary two-year fixes and trackers: the Bank of England does not publish an average where fewer than three institutions are in the sample for a product, and broker sources identify only limited BTL lifetime-tracker lender availability.

Last reviewed August 2026.

Sources

• FCA PERG 4.10B — “The Part 3 regime is only relevant to consumer borrowers.” Source
• UK Finance buy-to-let lending data — “The number of BTL fixed rate mortgages outstanding in Q1 2026 was 1.47 million, 1.4 per cent up on a year previously.” Source
• UK Finance buy-to-let lending data — “In contrast, the number of variable rate loans outstanding fell by a further 9.5 per cent to 453,000.” Source
• Bank of England Bank Rate page — “Today, we’ve held Bank Rate at 3.75%.” Source
• Bank of England July 2026 monetary policy summary — “At its meeting ending on 29 July 2026, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by a majority of 6–3 to maintain Bank Rate at 3.75%.” Source
• Paragon buy-to-let switch product guide — “With a bank base rate tracker product, your interest rate moves in line with the Bank of England base rate.” Source
• PRA Supervisory Statement SS13/16 — “In taking account of likely future interest rate increases for the purposes of its assessment of whether the borrower will be able to pay the sums due, the firm should consider the likely future interest rates over a minimum period of five years from the expected start of the term of the buy-to-let mortgage contract, unless the interest rate is fixed or capped for a period of five years or more from that time, or for the duration of the buy-to-let mortgage contract if less than five years.” Source
• PRA Supervisory Statement SS13/16 — “Even if the interest rate determined in paragraph 2.13 indicates that the borrower’s interest rate will be less than 5.5% during the first five years of the buy-to-let mortgage contract, the firm should assume a minimum borrower interest rate of 5.5%.” Source
• Paragon buy-to-let product guide — “5 year fixed rate products (for SSC): The ICR calculation rate will be either the product charging rate or 4.50%, whichever is the greater.” Source
• Paragon buy-to-let product guide — “All other products (for all property types): The ICR calculation rate will be either the product charging rate plus 2% or 5.50%, whichever is the greater.” Source
• Moneyfacts buy-to-let mortgage data — “Two-year fixed deals currently charge a lower rate than five-year deals, with the average two-year fixed buy-to-let mortgage rate standing at 4.70% at the start of February 2026 compared to the average five-year fixed rate of 5.09%.” Source
• MCD Order 2015 Schedule 2 paragraph 16 — “Subject to sub-paragraph (3), the creditor must allow the borrower to discharge fully or partially the borrower's obligations under the consumer buy-to-let mortgage contract prior to the expiry of that contract.” Source
• MCD Order 2015 Schedule 2 paragraph 16 — “The creditor is entitled to fair and objective compensation, where justified, for possible costs directly linked to the early repayment but the creditor must not impose a sanction on the borrower and the amount of compensation must not exceed the financial loss of the creditor.” Source
• FCA MCOB 12.3 — “(2) a reasonable pre-estimate of the costs as a result of the customer repaying the amount due under the regulated mortgage contract before the contract has terminated.” Source
• Financial Ombudsman DRN-5546648 — “B had an unregulated buy-to-let mortgage.” Source
• Financial Ombudsman DRN-5546648 — “The Consumer Rights Act 2015 doesn’t apply to B’s mortgage because it was a commercial contract.” Source
• Financial Ombudsman DRN-5546648 — “Aldermore set the ERC on B’s mortgage at 2.5% of the amount repaid if repayment was on or before 12 April 2024 and at 2% of the amount repaid if repayment was on or before 12 April 2025.” Source
• Financial Ombudsman DRN-4820280 — “Paragon doesn’t offer portable products.” Source
• MoneyHelper remortgaging guidance — “If you know you’re likely to move, consider deals with low or no early repayment charges.” Source
• Bank of England Bank Rate explainer — “For example, when we raise the Bank Rate, banks will usually increase how much they charge their customers on loans and the interest they offer on savings.” Source
• Bank of England Act 1998 s.13(1) — “There shall be a committee of the Bank, to be known as the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, which shall have responsibility within the Bank for formulating monetary policy.” Source
• Moneyfactscompare mortgage rates report — “Meanwhile, the Moneyfacts Average New Mortgage Rate* climbed by 0.12 percentage points over the same timeframe to return to 5.59% - completely counteracting progress made throughout June.” Source
• BBC mortgage rates report — “As at 30 July, the average rate on a new two-year fixed deal was 5.62%, up from 4.83% at the start of March, according to the financial information service Moneyfacts.” Source
• FCA PERG 4.4 — “A buy-to-let loan secured on the property to be let is potentially a regulated mortgage contract.” Source
• FCA PS25/11 — “Mortgage products such as buy-to-let loans and business mortgages are mostly not regulated by the FCA and out of scope of this PS.” Source
• Online Mortgage Advisor lifetime tracker guide — “(Lifetime tracker mortgages are not to be confused with lifetime mortgages, which are a different product altogether.)” Source
• St James’s Place mortgage guide — “However, these tend to be less competitive on rate.” Source
• Online Mortgage Advisor lifetime tracker guide — “Santander, Pepper Money and Halifax are lenders that do go for that longer time period for residential borrowers while CHL Mortgages and West One offer them for buy-to-let borrowers.” Source
• Bank of England quoted household interest rates methodology — “An average rate is not published if there are fewer than three institutions in the sample for a particular product.” Source