Keystone refreshes criteria

Keystone Buy to Let has made a range of criteria changes to its Classic Range including increasing its portfolio lending limit from £1m to £2m.

Keystone has also upped its maximum multi-unit to 10 flats from eight and made it so borrowers above 85 can be accepted on a joint application.

David Whittaker, chief executive of Keystone, said: “In Q3 2016, multi-units were typically averaging yields of 8.7% compared to just 5.6% for standard buy-to-let property, so increasing the number of separate units in a freehold block to 10 will appeal to landlords who like to take advantage of the economies of scale.

“And we know from the brokers who place cases with us that many investors are moving towards these larger properties.

“The aim of accepting landlords over the age of 85 years within a joint mortgage application will allow many of our older borrowers to continue to leverage their portfolios.

“We anticipate that this will be a popular criteria enhancement for those who still wish to borrow personally. For applicants borrowing via limited company, the Classic Range has no upper age limit.”

Keystone has also made changes to its Solutions Range for credit impaired borrowers. All of its standard rates have been reduced by 0.27% to start at 6.89% to 75% LTV.

The rate for foreign nationals has been reduced by 0.60% and is now 8.39% to 70% LTV. The range also offers 7.89% to 70% LTV to ex-pats, down from 8.99%.

The lender has also made criteria changes, with the maximum loan size being doubled to £1m.

Early repayment charges will now apply only for the first five years of the loan, down from nine years, and the amounts in each year have been reduced to 4% in the first year to just 1% in year five.

Whittaker added: “The Solutions Range is designed for investors who are struggling to get longer term buy-to-let finance, so we are delighted to be able make our pricing more appealing especially as the products are available to both individual and limited company borrowers.”