Landbay Review

Landbay is no longer accepting investment from retail clients (please see statement from Landbay below).

Review maintained for historical information purposes.

On December 5th 2019, all retail investors received the following email from Landbay. 

All capital was returned to my account along with all interest owed.

Landbay is a medium size Peer to Peer lender providing loans to experienced buy-to-let landlords with properties which have low loan to values (LTV less than 73% ).

Rental incomes typically cover a minimum of 125% of the mortgage payment.

Landbay offers lower returns (3.10% – 3.54%) compared to some other lenders. However with the safety of secured income property, and a provision fund that provides another layer or protection to lenders. Landbay mortgages are probably one of the safest places in Peer to Peer lending to put your Landbay ISA.  

Landbay is about as close to a bank as you can get.  Although they are not a bank, and as with any investment, remember your capital is at risk.

View Consolidated Monthly Investment Returns from All Lenders

See Screenshots & Detailed Monthly Updates From My Personal Landbay Account

The Obvious Investor – Easy-Info Table^© – Landbay Review

History

Landbay were launched in 2014 in the UK. In the 5 or so years they have been in business, they have built a portfolio of over £300 million capital lent on properties with a value of over £430 million.

Landbay are proud to declare that they have had zero defaults, and no investor has lost money since they have been in business, which is a great track record however you look at with Landbay mortgages.

Even if there were to be defaults in the future, I would not personally worry about it based on the security all of their loans have, and the provision fund on top of that, it is unlikely I would lose much capital if any at all.

Personally I have some capital in Landbay but not as much as in some of the other Peer to Peer lenders as I don’t mind taking a little extra risk for the higher returns.

If you are very risk averse, Landbay could be a very good option for you.

Regulation

Landbay is a Peer to Peer lender regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with full permissions under FCA number 719626.  They gained FCA permissions in December, 2016.

It’s important to note that the FCA is not the same as the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme), so capital is not protected as it would be in a bank.

Accounts – Landbay Review

Landbay offer two classic (non Landbay ISA) investment accounts:

They have a “Fixed Rate” account  currently offering returns of 3.49% on loan terms of up to 25 years. This has an early exit fee of 0.20% plus any difference in interest rates if they have increased since you bought your loans.

Then add money by either bank transfer or debit card (bank transfer is actually faster with Landbay which is not the norm. I typically find debit card transfers with most lenders are instant if they accept them).

And then sit back and watch your interest roll in.

Don’t forget to set your “reinvest” switch to on if you want a completely hands off investment experience.

That’s it! Very much like a regular bank savings account. Remember there is no FSCS insurance like a bank though and your capital is at risk.

Landbay is one of the safest Peer to Peer lenders in the UK. Their website is built to be easy to use so just about anyone can deposit capital and receive bank beating rates.

The low risk comes with a price though, low risk = low returns.

If you’re new to Peer to Peer lending and a little nervous about giving it a try. Landbay are a good option for starting out and getting your feet wet in relative safety.

• Safety – Landbay is one of the safer Peer to Peer lenders. A medium size company with good history of providing secured loans to professional property investors with good LTV’s and a history of zero defaults.

• Provision Fund – another layer of protection covers a portion of lenders investments should a default occur.

• Auto-Invest –very easy to invest, and hands off investing once set up

• Website – very easy to use and understand.

• Low minimum investment–  £100 to start – if your portfolio is still small, it’s still easy to invest with Landbay with a £100 minimum investment to start in regular account (£5000 in IFISA).

• Instant, no cost exit – in “tracker” portfolio in normal market conditions.

• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Regulated.

• Landbay ISA – Landbay ISA available for UK investors.

• Investment Time – it can take a while to put money in the market initially, even if the amounts are small. Landbay pays interest from day one though so even if it does take time, you are still earning interest on your deposit.

• Lower Returns – lower risk investments means lower returns. As Landbay are providing long term mortgages, it would be difficult for them to pay higher rates with current borrower rates being so low.

• Early Exit Fees – for the fixed rate account it’s going to cost 0.2% plus any difference between your loan rate and current rates.

Is Landbay safe? I consider Landbay to be at the lower end of the risk scale.

Taking in to consideration that all loans are secured with a low LTV, and the Provision Fund, it’s hard not to give it a perfect number 1, but this is still an investment with no FSCS government backed insurance, and as such, capital is still at risk.

Although I could not find a TrustPilot rating for Landbay, their Feefo rating is very good.

U.K. resident investors with a U.K.  bank account and a U.K. address and phone number who can pass the ID checks can invest with Landbay. Contact Landbay for further information.

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