Kensington Mortgages has made changes to its buy-to-let range in a move to offer landlords greater flexibility and product choice.
The lender has introduced 'top-slicing' to its buy-to-let lending criteria, allowing borrowers to use personal income or income from other properties in affordability assessments.
Kensington will now accept applications from non-owner occupiers and first-time buyers, on the condition that one applicant is earning £40,000 or above.
The applicant age has also increased to a maximum of 70 years at application.
Buy-to-let rates now start at 2.69 per cent for a two-year fixed rate at 70 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) with a maximum loan value of £2m.
Loans of up to 75 per cent LTV are now available for houses in multiple occupation and multi-unit freehold blocks with a maximum loan of £1m.
For these no minimum overall property value is required - rates on these products start from 2.89 per cent with 65 per cent LTV on a two-year fixed rate.
Craig McKinlay, sales & marketing director at Kensington Mortgages, said the latest changes were part of the lender's long-term strategy of enhancing its buy-to-let proposition.
He said: "With higher LTV’s, reduced rates and a wider range of tailored products to choose from, our buy-to-let upgrade will provide landlords with even more flexibility."
Jonathan Harris, director of mortgage broker Anderson Harris, said: "Landlords have been hit hard by tax and regulatory changes, with many selling up and exiting the sector, while other would-be first-time investors have been put off investing at all.
"Lenders are still keen to lend and a number have been tweaking criteria, making it easier for landlords to make the numbers add up when it comes to funding.
"Taking the landlord’s income into account, as well as the rental income when calculating how much they can borrow, for example, is a more flexible and sensible way of doing things, with a number of lenders now doing this."
rachel.addison@ft.com
