Yorkshire expands B2L offering to cover whole of England and Wales

23 January 2012

Yorkshire Building Society has extended its buy-to-let offering to properties across the whole of England and Wales, and loosened its lending criteria.

The society previously only lent on buy-to-let in London and the South-East after entering the buy-to-let sector with a soft launch in August 2011 through its intermediary arm Accord Mortgages.

It is also revising its buy-to-let criteria by reducing the minimum property value from £150,000 to £100,000, and reducing the minimum applicant age from 30 to 25.

In addition, it is lowering the minimum income for an applicant from £35,000 to £20,000, as well as lifting a 40 mile distance restriction from the borrower to the property location, and accepting broker-certified copies of documentation and original documents.

Jeremy Law, head of buy-to-let at the Yorkshire, says the move represents the lender’s next step in its staged entry into buy-to-let.

He says: “We do not see ourselves dipping in and out of the market. We are here to stay and will be an active lender all year round.”

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