Foundation Home Loans (FHL), which launched its first buy-to-let product portfolio to the intermediary market last month, has made changes to its criteria.

Non owner occupiers are now accepted but must have had a buy-to-let for 24 months. In addition, the total deposit can now come from family as a gift.

CCJs or defaults registered over two years ago will be accepted provided they are brought up to date by the date of application.

Paul Brett (pictured), director of business development, said: “Two weeks into our launch and we are already refining our criteria in line with the enquiries we are receiving. The enhancements, as a whole, demonstrate the way in which FHL is intending to carve out a sustainable niche for itself.

“These changes are logical and meet the internal tests we use based on over 70,000 live and past buy-to-let cases we have in our database. We know more about how buy-to-let accounts respond than many active lenders in the market, so we are very confident that the changes we are making will be good for us as well as for the client.

“Our packager/distributor partners are particularly delighted by our ability to respond quickly and brokers can be assured that FHL intends to ensure that sensible, sustainable change, which moves the buy-to-let experience forward without sacrificing underwriting integrity, will become a hallmark of our business model.”