CHL Mortgages has been appointed to the Legal & General Mortgage Club panel, after returning to the buy-to-let market earlier this month.

The intermediary-only specialist lender says the partnership “will significantly extend CHL Mortgages distribution channel and provide a greater proportion of the intermediary market with access to the lender’s product range”.

Established in 1995, the Legal & General Mortgage Club is the largest and longest-running network of its kind in the UK. It says it involved in nearly one in five of all UK mortgages and nearly one in three of all intermediated mortgages.

The addition of CHL Mortgages to the club’s panel, gives its members access to products from 102 lenders.

CHL Mortgages announced its return to this market on 4 May, after pulling back from new lending in 2008.

Later the same month, it confirmed the appointment of Andy Valvona as its national accounts manager, following its return as an intermediary-only specialist buy-to-let lender.

Legal & General Mortgage Club head of lender relationships Danny Belton says: “It is pleasing to see an experienced lender like CHL Mortgages making its return to the buy-to-let arena.

“We expect the partnership to open the door to a range of valuable mortgages suitable for limited companies, portfolio landlords and trading companies.”

CHL Mortgages commercial director Ross Turrell adds: “Legal & General Mortgage Club is an absolute giant in terms of the breadth of its distribution and reputation across the intermediary market.

“It is a partner that always featured heavily in our plans but due to its sheer size and scale we had to carefully assess how and when we opened the doors to its members.”