A quote from this intriguing article in the Mail...
"The other major stumbling block for those landlords worst affected by the tax changes has been a perceived need to refinance, the costs of which can prove to be astronomical and may result in losing preferable mortgage terms agreed prior to the credit crunch."
I've long suspected that Mark Carney's 'forward guidance' (and all those bland speeches he manages to get reported everywhere as 'interest rates are about to rise') is all about wrong-footing consumers into fixing their mortgage rates. It's forgivable too, as his job as a macro-prudential regulator is to keep the banks safe.
Mark Carney opens his mouth and the interest rates futures market jumps. Mark Carney makes the merest hint of rising rates and folk in my office all start panicking and fixing their mortgages. It works.
I guess not only do the BTL reforms create the need for highly leveraged landlords to re-mortgage, it also pushes them into business banking, where they can be well and truly pillaged with almost utter impunity.