West One Loans has opened its buy-to-let range to foreign nationals, first-time buyers and a host of other borrower types as part of a major criteria revamp.

The specialist lender can now consider lending to foreign nationals who are non-UK passport holders, living in or outside the UK and without indefinite leave to remain. Rates for these borrowers start at 6.79%.

West One will also consider first-time buyers who don’t currently own a residential or buy-to-let property, with rates starting at 6.09%.

The lender has also made several criteria changes to its core range, meaning it can now consider lending on:

• Ex-local authority properties less than 50% privately owned, up to 70% LTV, subject to the valuer’s comments;
• Investor-led properties up to 70% LTV, subject to the valuer’s comments;
• Sub-let agreements up to 65% LTV;
• Borrowers with no mortgage history, up to 75%. This includes ex-pats and foreign nationals (both up to 65%), although they must have a UK credit footprint and have owned a UK property for a minimum of 12 months.

Andrew Ferguson, managing director of buy-to-let at West One Loans, said: “We pride ourselves on having one of the most diverse and accommodating set of criteria in the market. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t constantly looking for areas to improve.

“Through regular discussions with brokers, we know there is significant demand for foreign national, first-time buyer, ex-local authority, investor-led and sub-let solutions – and so we have acted.

“Of course, we always try to offer competitive pricing, but we believe it’s our criteria and first-class service that makes us stand out from our competitors.

“We want brokers to know that if they have a case that’s out of the norm, we are always willing to have a discussion to see if we can make the deal work where overall credit quality is good.”