Halifax Intermediaries will change its lending criteria by boosting the proportion of bonus, commission and overtime income used in its affordability tests to 60% from 30%.

This reverses cuts the broker-only arm of the building society brought in last July, which saw the proportion of this type of income used in affordability assessments halved to 30%.

The lender says: “Last year we made a temporary reduction in the proportion of these incomes used to reflect there may be an increased element of variance in these income types and to ensure we continued to lend responsibly while still supporting customers.

“We have continued to monitor the situation closely to ensure we make the right decisions to support our customers and are now updating our criteria.”

The unit adds this type of income “must continue to represent a regular and sustainable feature of the customer’s income.”

It says that brokers should be key in these types of incomes as per existing guidance and the usual income verification requirements apply.

These affordability changes apply to applications started on 8 September.

A decision in principle keyed on 8 September will be subject to these new rules.

The lender adds applications started before 8 September, even if at decision in principle stage, will not be affected and will remain on the previous rules even if a full application is submitted after 8 September.