Loughborough Building Society has revised its self-employed criteria so it can now accept one year’s worth of accounts for sole-traders, partnerships and directors of limited companies.

This facility will be available on loans up to 80% LTV across the Loughborough’s residential product range for purchase or remortgage purposes on the applicants main residence. It is applicable for those applicants who have previously been employed in the same line of work as their new business and is also available for newly qualified professionals with one year’s worth of accounts.

A year-two projection may be considered on referral where the business has been trading for a minimum of 18 months and the projection has been prepared by a qualified accountant.

Each case will be assessed on an individual basis.

Ashley Pearson, head of intermediaries at Loughborough Building Society, said: “Securing a suitable mortgage continues to prove that bit more challenging for many self-employed people across the UK, with this demographic often falling foul of one-size-fits-all mainstream lending criteria.

“For brokers with self-employed clients, it’s never been more important to understand the breadth of available options and in recognising the flexibility of certain lenders when looking to place this type of business, even for those relatively new business ventures.

“We hope this positive criteria enhancement will help open up more avenues for this vital component within the UK workforce to access the type of mortgage product they need and deserve.”