Metro Bank has improved the stress rates applied on its buy-to-let mortgages.

The stress rates on five-year BTL mortgages will be reduced from 5.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent. In addition Metro Bank has also increased the maximum age for a BTL applicant at the end of their term from 80 to 85. 

Metro Bank says these changes will enable it to assist more borrowers who may want to continue using a BTL property to help with their retirement planning. 

Metro Bank said it would be making further changes to its product range in the next 12 months in its bid to be the UK’s leading specialist lender.

Metro Bank says it already has a comprehensive BTL offering, on which it has no minimum income requirements. It allows up to four applicants, and enables them to use top slicing from their earned income. 

Metro Bank director of mortgage distribution Charles Morley says: “Our buy-to-let range is now more flexible than ever before with a specialist offering that provides the full range of options for borrowers, many of whom are struggling to get a mortgage due to the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Morley pointed out that Metro Bank remains one of the few lenders in the market to continue to offer 90 per cent LTV mortgages in the residential sector.