Gen H has announced a series of significant changes to its loan-to-income (LTI) policy in a move aimed at helping more borrowers onto the property ladder, particularly those with complex incomes and smaller deposits.

Effective immediately, self-employed applicants will be able to borrow up to 5.5 times their income, while the lender has also removed the 4.49x LTI cap for loans above 85% loan-to-value (LTV).

In addition, the income threshold at which the 4.49x cap applies has been lowered from £50,000 to £40,000.

The lender said the reforms will allow it to support up to 12% more customers, with maximum loan sizes increasing by as much as 22%.

Gen H, formerly known as Generation Home, has built its reputation around affordability-focused lending and tailored solutions for non-standard borrowers. Its latest changes reinforce that positioning, particularly for self-employed applicants.

Unlike many mainstream lenders that average profits over two or more years, Gen H uses just the most recent trading year when assessing affordability, provided the applicant has at least two years’ trading history.

Pete Dockar, chief commercial officer at Gen H, said the new policy would make a real difference to buyers who are often overlooked by the wider market.

“Increasing our LTI limits for self-employed applicants, those with small deposits, and those on average household incomes will allow us to support exactly the people we wish to reach: those who, without Gen H, may not have found a path to homeownership,” he said.

“These buyers are often underserved by existing mortgage products and the high street, so I hope the implementation of these new rules makes our stance very clear: we’ll take every chance we get to create more incremental homeowners.”