Inform 4th October 2024

In this month’s issue we’ll be taking a look at:

• Climate Risk Reporting
• Climate Risk
• Environmental Risks
• Retrofitting
• Government Strategy
• Renewable Technology
• Energy
• EPC’s
• Property Market
• New Build
• Drive Green
• Environmental days to support

To read the latest issue of Green Watch, click here.

To read the previous editions of Green Watch visit our Market Insights area on the e.surv website.

Barclays

Switching BTL to Resi mortgages

We’ve recently made some positive changes to our lending policy. When customers wish to switch an existing Barclays Buy to Let (BTL) mortgage to a Barclays Residential mortgage, we will allow the BTL rate and remaining product term to be kept. A bespoke version of the mortgage product will be created to mirror the rate and period remaining.

This will give customers the option to avoid the potential early repayment charge (ERC) on redemption of the BTL, if required.

Kensington Mortgages

Criteria Spotlight

For all your cases, we don’t credit score or charge upfront application fees, and our lending decisions are made by underwriters.

Income boost – Hero and Professionals

• Hero: Up to 5x income
  Available to qualifying NHS clinicians, Paramedics, Nurses, Teachers and Lecturers, Firefighters, Police and Members of the Armed Forces (Army, RAF and Navy)
• Professionals: Up to 6x income
  Available to qualifying Dentists, Doctors, Actuaries, Chartered Accountants, Barristers, Commercial Pilots and Solicitors

View their products.

If there’s a particular criteria you’d like us to cover, please do get in touch. Also, you can subscribe to Kensington’s LinkedIn newsletter for a monthly round-up of all our news and updates.

The Loans Engine

Opportunities you might be missing out on…

• Opportunity 1 – Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor for Second Charges

When a client wants to raise capital but lacks sufficient income, we can offer a joint borrower sole proprietor solution.

By adding a partner, spouse, or even an adult child as a second applicant, we can boost affordability, provided they have an income.

However, the second applicant must live in the property, contribute to household expenses, and be jointly liable for the new loan, which we clearly explain to them.

• Opportunity 2 – BTL Second Charges

We often speak with brokers who are surprised to learn that second charge mortgages can be used for buy to let properties, not just residential homes.

In fact, 30% of our second charge business involves BTL and even commercial properties.

It’s a growing and lucrative sector, with rising demand for this solution. So, now could be the perfect time to start exploring it.

We won’t dive into these opportunities any further right now, as we be covering them in more detail during the upcoming Zoom session.

If you’re interested in learning more, I’m hosting the session on October 18th at 12:30 PM. In just an hour, you could discover 14 new opportunities to support your clients and potentially increase your income.

Remember, our Zoom sessions:

• Are free to attend.
• Can earn you extra CPD points for your professional record.
• Allow you to connect directly with me, CEO of the business, with over 20 years of specialist finance experience.

In the meantime, if you have a case that needs immediate assistance, give us a call on 0800 328 8930, and our experts will quickly let you know if we have a solution.

Register now.

Zurich

Market Harborough Building Society

Looking for a re-bridge solution?

Pepper Money

The latest Specialist Lending Study is out now!

We’re back with the eighth edition of our Specialist Lending Study.

We’ve continued our partnership with YouGov to conduct research with more than 4,000 people, representative of the British adult population. The survey and findings cover a range of topics, including adverse credit, unsecured debt, self-employment, buy-to-let, first time buyers, second charge mortgages and attitudes towards sustainability.

Our latest study uncovered that 8.38 million people (16%) have experienced adverse credit in the last 3 years. This is the highest level since we launched our regular study, showcasing the rise of adverse credit.

However, despite this, 1.76 million people with adverse credit are planning to buy a property in the next 12 months.

Get to Know your just-off-high-street to adverse customers better

Know that your customers will get accepted: At Pepper, we don’t count missed payments as adverse, and we don’t credit score so when the high street say no, say hello to Pepper.

Know you do not have to waste time: We take the pain out of the process, giving you the opportunity to help more customers.

Download the full report.

Suffolk Building Society

Retention Proc Fees Have Arrived

In recognition of the role you play in arranging product transfers for customers, we’re delighted to announce that we’re now paying retention proc fees! This will be for new product transfer requests made from 1 October 2024.

To make it easy for you we’ve put everything you need on the website – you can find it all on our Product Transfer page.

You’ll need to be registered with us to work on a product transfer. The good news is, the registration process is the same as for new business. If you’re unsure if you’re registered, please contact the team and we’ll check for you.

We look forward to working with you and if you have any further questions then give our helpful team a call on 0330 123 1073 or contact your BDM.

The Cambridge Building Society

Read Kathy’s most recent article for the Intermediary magazine

Another article that our Intermediary Manager, Kathy, wrote for The Intermediary magazine earlier this month has just dropped on our website for you to have a read.

Kathy speaks about recent trends in the expat mortgage market as well as how important it is helping expats to understand everything from the regulations and restrictions of the country their living in, to the impact of exchange rates on the affordability of the product that is being offered. Click here to read more.

For more information on our expat proposition, please contact the team on 0345 601 2744, use our online live chat, email intermediary@cambridgebs.co.uk or have a listen to Nicole, our Telephone Business Development Manager, who summarises our criteria here.

HSBC UK

We’ve improved our Foreign National policy

Good news – we’ve made a number of enhancements to our Residential lending policy for Foreign Nationals.

With immediate effect, the following changes have now been implemented:

• Where any applicant is a UK National or Foreign National with Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), Standard lending criteria applies, up to 95% LTV. Visa evidence will still be required for all Foreign National customers.
• Any application(s) that does not fit the above criteria, the following new criteria will apply:
• Applicant(s) has an ‘acceptable’ visa type
• Max LTV increased from 75% to 85%
• Applicant(s) has lived in the UK for at least 12 months, OR
• Applicant has a minimum income of £75,000 per annum or a joint income of £100,000 per annum (excluding variable income)
• There is no longer a requirement for a Foreign National without ILR to have 1 year remaining on their visa (as long as they have an ‘acceptable’ visa type)
• We will now accept debt consolidation applications (subject to our Standard lending criteria).

Please note, we still require the following additional supporting documents for all Foreign National customers who have lived in the UK less than 12 months:

• Credit report from the previous country of residence
• Latest three months bank statements
• Three months payslips.

Our broker website will be updated shortly with the above changes. 

Further information
Talk to us using Live Chat, call our Broker Support Team on 0345 600 5847 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) or contact your local BDM.

Hinckley & Rugby Building Society

New broker portal: Have you registered yet?

Last month we unveiled a new online broker portal, designed to deliver a faster and smoother experience for advisers.

The new portal has been developed with Sopra Banking Software and includes a host of innovative features, including:

• Full mortgage application facility
• Easy uploading of packaging documents
• Instant DIP decisioning
• Instant ESIS availability
• Easy amendment of previous DIPS
• Clear visibility of how each case is progressing
• Secure messaging system to discuss individual cases

If you haven’t registered already, you can do so by visiting our website.

Builder Deposit and skilled worker Visa Criteria

We will now accept 5% builder Deposit, couple this with our skilled worker criteria and we think we have filled a gap in criteria which a lot of lenders do not offer.

We can now do:

• 5% builder Deposit
• 5% client Deposit

Mortgage offer is valid for 6 months with a 1-month extension possible with no further UW/docs required.

This means skilled worker/BNO/Health & Care visa holders with less than 12 months in the UK can now purchase a new build property at 90% LTV.

Skilled Worker Visas – HRBS – Intermediaries

• No minimum residency within the UK is required
• No minimum income requirements
• No minimum time remaining on the Visa is required (If there is less than six months remaining on the current visa, it must be evidenced before completion that the visa extension has been granted.)
• 1-year employment track record is required.

Fleet Mortgages

New Q3 2024 Fleet Rental Barometer now live

Fleet Mortgage have shared a copy of their recently-published Rental Barometer with you which covers Q3 2024 rental yields across England and Wales plus additional Fleet data from the last quarter.

• The average yield for England and Wales shows an annual increase again
• The North East continues to lead the average rental yield table at 9.7%
• 10% of applications came from first-time landlords who were not being held back in terms of their first-time activity
• A typical landlord now holds 12 properties within their rental portfolio
• 77% of all applications through the quarter were from limited company borrowers

All Regions in England and Wales show an increase in yearly rental yields in Fleet’s latest Rental Barometer

The regional snapshot covers all areas of England and Wales in which Fleet lends and highlights the rental yield changes that have occurred in each of those regions. In this iteration, the yearly comparison is between Q3 2024 and Q3 2023.

Read the full Fleet Mortgages Rental Barometer Q3 report here.

Keystone Property Finance

The Practical Guide to Limited Company Structures

Check out our latest guide to understanding Limited Company Sturctures.

This guide features;

• Different types of limited company structures and how these can be utilised by landlords
• How lenders in the specialist market can lend on different types of structures
• Examples of different corporate structures through case studies

Download the guide now.

Metro Bank

Enhanced VISA requirements

Great news! We’ve made some positive changes to our VISA requirements, widening the criteria that can be accepted.

Criteria enhancements

• Skilled Worker VISA
  • No minimum salary requirement
  • Available on all repayment methods
• Spousal VISA – now accepted in line with above

Some things to note…

• Maximum 75% LTV
• For skilled workers, evidence of sponsorship is required
• Under 3 years U.K. history can be considered for these applications subject to full underwriting assessment and meeting the minimum credit score requirement
• Copy of VISA required

For full details, please refer to our updated Mortgage Lending Criteria Guide and Packaging Guides.