Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has made changes to its criteria for specialist buy-to-let, mortgage applications.
The lender says the improvements indicate its increased appetite for new business and its aim to simplify processes for brokers and their property investor clients.
The new measures include criteria improvements for semi-commercial, holiday let, plus policies on mortgage debentures.
The key changes are as follows:
- Semi-Commercial: For transactions where the property split is less than 65% commercial by value, HTB will now apply the same lending criteria, lending up to 75% LTV, removing the previous cut off that was in place. Previously, if the commercial aspect was over 50%, the maximum LTV was 70% and this typically led to a reduction in the loan amount.
- Holiday Lets: Restrictions removed on the maximum number of units with HTB and loan amount, subject to the bank’s existing exposure limit which is currently £25m, plus no requirement for experience now required.
- Vulnerable Tenants: HTB now accept cases where properties are let for emergency housing, rehabilitation or social transitional purposes, provided there is a credible professional operator providing appropriate management.
- Mortgage Debentures: The threshold above which a mortgage debenture is required has been increased to £2m.
Chris Daly (pictured), managing director, Specialist Mortgages at Hampshire Trust Bank, said: “At HTB we regularly review our proposition to ensure it is satisfying the needs of our property investor clients and reflects the changing requirements of the professional investor community.
“The cumulative effect of today’s changes to our specialist buy-to-let, holiday let and semi-commercial mortgage criteria are significant, simplifying our policies as well as extending our appetite both to new sectors and within our existing products.”