Hampshire Trust Bank has boosted its specialist buy-to-let range – which includes limited company, houses in multiple occupation and semi-commercial options – by increasing its maximum loan size to £25m from £15m.

The lender says its funding for limited companies includes trading firms, special purpose vehicles and new special purpose vehicles, as well as loans to offshore entities, expats, foreign nationals and first-time landlords.

It also provides lending on multi-unit freehold blocks, new build flats and short-term lets, covering DSS and sitting tenants.

Hampshire Trust Bank managing director, specialist mortgages Louisa Sedgwick says the move “illustrates our appetite for larger loan sizes and cements our credentials as a serious player for property investors with larger portfolios.

She adds: “In our experience, writing specialist buy-to-let cases needn’t be complex and so this enhancement, along with more changes that we have planned, is aimed at removing unnecessary barriers and making the complex as simple as possible.”

Last week, the lender hired Malone Roberts as lending manager for the North West.

Malone, who is based in the firm’s specialist mortgages lending division, joins after spending three years at Shawbrook Bank. He reports to the company’s head of new business Andrea Glasgow.

He is tasked with supporting the bank’s brokers in the North and Midlands, as well as structuring and packaging new applications.