Vida is making changes to its residential range to improve the lender’s range of fee saver products and provide a ‘fee free’ range of options.

These changes include removing the £180 assessment fee from all residential products, as well as offering a free valuation for properties up to £1m and providing £500 contribution to legal fees on completion across its Fee Saver Range.

Vida says it recognises that the need for specialist lending doesn’t finish at lower loan sizes, and borrowers who are purchasing more expensive homes, or requiring larger loans, can also have specialist needs which are underserved by the high street. For this reason, it has considered all customers in these latest changes.

The specialist lender has also made a number of criteria enhancements in response to market changes and feedback from intermediary partners and their clients. The changes include increasing the LTV to 85% where debt consolidation is a factor, in addition to significantly increasing maximum loan sizes across the portfolio. Vida has also changed its criteria where the client has experienced a repossession from 10 years to six.

Richard Tugwell, director of mortgage distribution at Vida, said: “Vida is a forward looking and agile business with an ear to the market, and our aim is to ensure we consistently deliver a first-class intermediary experience and provide a great range of product options for broker’s clients.

“These changes demonstrate our commitment to the specialist residential sector. With the rising cost of living and increasing interest rates, specialist lending is going to become increasingly important.

“The product and criteria changes take account of the fast-moving pace of the mortgage sector, and we are confident that these will provide great solutions to borrowers who are cut out of traditional mainstream lending.”