Foundation Home Loans has expanded its owner-occupied proposition through the launch of products with enhanced loan-to-income (LTI) limits for Key Workers.

Part of Foundation’s F1 tier range – for those borrowers who just miss out on the high-street – these new products allow first-time buyers, home movers and remortgagers in eligible Key Worker professions to borrow up to 5.5 times their income.

The Key Worker product range has options at 75% and 85% LTV, with maximum loan sizes available of £1 million up to 75% LTV and £750k up to 85% LTV.

Key Workers are generally defined as those working in the public sector, and Foundation has split these jobs into various sectors, including:

• Armed Forces Personnel – Army/Navy/RAF.
• NHS Clinicians – NHS nurses, paramedics, ambulance staff and midwives.
• Firefighters within the UK Fire Service.
• Teachers – Public sector teachers and University lecturers.
• Police and Prison Officers working within the UK Policy Force and HM Prison Service.

The Key Worker products are available to borrowers across England, Wales and Scotland to provide support for this group of borrowers to enable them to purchase or remortgage a residential property.

The lender is offering two-year fixed rates starting at 7.69% up to 75% LTV and 8.09% up to 85% LTV, and five-year fixed rates at 7.04% up to 75% LTV and 7.39% up to 85% LTV. All of the Key Worker products are priced with lower product fees of £595 to reduce upfront costs, as well as coming with one free standard valuation for purchases and remortgages, and no application fee. The Key Worker products are available on a capital and interest basis only.

Tom Jacob, director of product and marketing at Foundation Home Loans, said: “Key Workers are the life blood of the public sector, and it is vitally important they can access mortgages specifically for their needs to ensure they can live close to their places of work so they can support their local communities and continue to provide the very best services to members of the public.

“Borrowers in these professions tend to have very stable employment levels, however – and particularly in a higher interest-rate environment – potential borrowing based on income can be a difficult obstacle to get over, particularly if they have additional complexities which mean they just fall outside of mainstream lending criteria. This is why we are offering our specialist solution including enhanced LTI limits to borrowers who work in any one of our eligible Key Worker professions, which we believe will help these individuals purchase or refinance residential properties.

“We believe this is a unique borrower demographic that requires a specific product proposition and we are therefore very pleased to be launching these mortgages today, so Key Workers can keep living and working in their local areas and providing the services that are so vital to all communities.”