Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has made a raft of enhancements to its criteria for specialist buy-to-let, mortgage applications and aims to simplify processes for brokers and their property investor clients.

The key changes include:

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.

HTB’s managing director of specialist mortgages Chris Daly comments: “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.”