Keystone Property Finance has revamped its HMO offering and hiked its maximum loan to value (LTV) to 80% as part of a major overhaul of its lending criteria.

The specialist buy-to-let lender’s decision to increase its maximum LTV from 75% to 80% opens up its standard and green ranges to landlords with smaller deposits.

Keystone will also now lend on HMOs of up to 15 beds and multi-unit properties (MUP) of up to 15 flats, both up from 10 previously.

In addition, the lender will also now accept first-time landlords purchasing an HMO property up to six beds (HMOs were not available to first-time buyers before) or a multi-unit property of up to six flats (up from four previously).

Keystone has also started lending to retired ex-pat applicants, who can choose from a separate new range with rates starting at 3.34%.

Keystone has also increased its enhanced cashback offer from a maximum of £3,000 to a maximum of £5,000. The lender’s new cashback tiers are as follows:

• £1,250 for loans between £150,000 – £400,000;
• £2,000 for loans between £400,001 – £750,000;
• £3,000 for loans between £750,001 – £1,000,001;
• £4,000 for loans between £1,000,001- £1,500,000;
• £5,000 for loans between £1,500,001 – £2,000,000.

Finally, Keystone has also hiked its maximum portfolio size to £10m, from £3m before, and doubled its maximum individual loan size to £2m.

Elise Coole of Keystone Property Finance said: “2021 was a momentous year for Keystone but we want to lend even more in 2022, which is why we have significantly improved our criteria today. We believe these changes will make us a much more attractive proposition to brokers and landlords operating in the specialist end of the market.

“However, we haven’t made these criteria changes on a whim. They are the result of our ongoing dialogue with our brokers to find out what they and their clients want and need from a specialist buy-to-let lender.

“Recently brokers have been telling us of the need for a greater choice of products at higher LTVs as well as more options for retired ex-pats wanting to buy investment properties back in the UK, and so we have acted upon it.

“Similarly, while we already had generous criteria for HMOs and multi-unit properties, we believe these changes will really make us stand out in the market.

“As a lender, we are always trying to evolve and improve, though, which is why brokers and landlords can expect a lot more from us in the coming 12 months.”