A 5-year will take you into the next government, depends on what you think Andy Burnham does. Are you able to wait 2 months?

Full Disclaimer, this is my opinion not advice, and a bit of a gamble. We will almost certainly be having a General Election in the next 2 years. If we get a Reform or Coalition right-wing government, they will be pro-landlord. Under Reform who are very pro-landlord, HMO will suffer for a short while as migrant tenants are replaced with professionals. In this scenario, I might consider a 2-year anticipating a rates improvement. If we get a right-wing coalition government, things will be similar but slower in which case the extra product fees might favour a 5-year. If Labour get back in, pray as they are best friends with Blackrock and pushing for rent controls. Gill taught us to go with Tracker or Discounted mortgages as they are generally cheaper than Fixed rate although as things look like they could get bumpy, I am favouring Fixed.