PERMANENT TSB is offering some of its mortgage customers who haven’t made progress on their loans a chance to write-off their debt – but landlords are the only ones being made the offer.

The offer by the bank will benefit accidental landlords the most, according to the Irish Independent, which broke the story this morning. It also reports that financial experts believe other banks will begin to offer something similar in the near future.

In a statement to TheJournal.ie, Permanent TSB confirmed that it is writing to “certain buy-to-let mortgage customers” whose loans have been “non-performing for an extended period of time”.

Customers would have to agree to let the bank sell their properties in what’s called a voluntary surrender in order to secure the debt clearance. The bank said that at present there were no plans to extend the offer to private householders or other mortgage holders who aren’t landlords.

“For customers who are offered and who agree to a voluntary surrender in this initiative, the bank has agreed to clear any arrears or shortfalls that remain on the loan after the property has been sold and that it will not seek any further repayment by the borrowers in respect of the relevant mortgage,” the bank said.

The offer isn’t being made to all landlords however – it’s made to a select few customers based on the bank’s “detailed review of the relevant loan accounts”, as well as a declaration of assets and other documents that must be submitted.

The offer is limited to customers that the bank decides genuinely cannot repay their loan.

The offer is limited to customers who the bank believes have no means of meeting the repayment terms of the loan or the shortfall debt which will arise upon the sale of the property.

A spokesman for Permanent TSB said that the move followed recent comments by the Group Chief Executive of Permanent TSB, Jeremy Masding who said the bank would pursue a number of actions to deal with non-performing loans and that this initiative was part of that plan.

“While this current initiative is limited in scope, it is one of a number of initiatives which we are pursuing to reduce the number of non-performing loans at the bank. We believe it merits serious consideration by those customers who are invited to participate.”

Permanent TSB is 75% owned by the State.