Coventry for Intermediaries has made changes to its affordability calculations for buy-to-let lending.

The lender will now apply a reference rate of 4.5% for all five-year+ fixed rate calculations, down from a previous rate of 5%.

Jonathan Stinton, head of intermediary relationships at the Coventry Building Society, said: “We’re improving the options available to landlords, making it easier for them to invest in their portfolios. We want to be as straightforward as possible with landlords and our buy-to-let policy reflects that decision, with no minimum income or minimum time in employment criteria.

“Our ICR policy is also very easy to work with as it’s simply based on total gross annual income and/or tax status.

“Our buy-to-let calculator helps brokers work out how much their landlord clients could borrow from us, and the change to our reference rate means it’s likely more of those clients will now have greater choice available to them.

“We’re sending brokers more information and some useful examples to help them see which of their clients could benefit from this change. It’s all available on our website too.”