CHL Mortgages has made three changes to its lending criteria, and has today joined the Knowledge Bank platform.

The broker-only buy-to-let lender says it will now accept inter-company loan deposits from connected parties.

It has reduced high and additional rate taxpayer interest cover ratio from 145% to 140%.

Also, development exposure limits in any block are increased to:

Blocks of up to 6 units – a maximum of 6 units per block

Blocks of 7 to 20 units – a maximum of 10 units per block

Blocks of more than 20 units – the highest of 10 units, or 20% per block

CHL Mortgages adds that is now live on the Knowledge Bank platform, which holds over 120,000 individual pieces of criteria from more than 200 lenders.

It says: “This move represents the next step in CHL’s phased return to the specialist BTL market as it looks to utilise Knowledge Bank’s technology to further extend its reach across the intermediary marketplace.”

CHL Mortgages returned to the buy-to-let market in May, after pulling back from new lending in 2008.

CHL Mortgages commercial director Ross Turrell says: “The response to our return to the specialist BTL market has been overwhelmingly positive and following feedback from our initial distribution partners, we are making these improvements to lending policy in order to attract more buy-to-let customers.

“In particular, we know the change to accept inter-company loan deposits will make a lot more limited company cases viable and these changes demonstrate our willingness to adapt according to customer and broker needs.

Turrell adds: “Our launch with Knowledge Bank represents a logical step in our plan to engage with the intermediary community in a sensible, structured and comprehensive manner.

“Knowledge Bank has firmly cemented its status as the place for intermediaries to source all relevant criteria-related information and this will prove to be a valuable outlet in our overall distribution strategy.”

Knowledge Bank operations director Matthew Corker says: “While working closely with the CHL team over these last few weeks, it’s clear to see the level of knowledge and experience they have, covering some of the more specialist market niches such as houses in multiple occupation and multi-unit freehold blocks and products for portfolio landlords.”