Yorkshire Building Society has extended the geographical reach of its buy-to-let proposition to cover loans on suitable properties across England and Wales. The move represents the next step in the Society’s staged entry into the market and is accompanied by a review to the lender’s criteria.
The Yorkshire entered the buy-to-let market in August 2011, offering a range of products through its intermediary lending subsidiary, Accord Mortgages, initially in London and the South East. Over the following months the lending panel was expanded as the society gradually added further products to the range.
Yorkshire’s head of buy-to-let, Jeremy Law, commented: “We have always been open about our intentions to roll-out our buy-to-let offering to a wider geographical area and the expansion across England and Wales will represent the next step in our staged entry into buy-to-let.
“We’ve taken the last few months to ensure our processes are in place and to seek feedback from our lending partners, which has resulted in a review of our criteria and a number of key changes.”
Changes to the society’s criteria include:
The minimum property value will reduce from £150k to £100k
The minimum applicant age will reduce from 30 to 25
The lifting of a 40 mile distance from borrower to property location restriction
Broker-certified copies of documentation will now be accepted instead of original documents being required
The minimum income for an applicant will reduce from £35k to £20k
Jeremy added: “We have listened to brokers and taken the opportunity our staged entry has provided to revise our lending criteria. However, our lending policy will still reflect the values of the Yorkshire as a prudent mutual and our primary focus is, and always will be, the interests of our members.
Buy-to-let will continue to form part of Accord Mortgage’s mortgage range, recently expanded to include 90 per cent LTV residential loans. However, prime residential lending remains Accord’s primary focus throughout 2012.
Law added: “We do not see ourselves as dipping in and out of the market, we are very much here to stay and will be an active lender in the market all year round.”
