West One has increased loan-to-income limits across its core residential mortgage range and improved automated valuation criteria for remortgage customers.

The specialist lender has raised standard loan-to-income limits on core products from five times income to 5.5 times income for purchases and remortgages across all product credit tiers.

West One said the change was intended to make homeownership more accessible for borrowers who may not be adequately served by traditional lending products.

The 5.5 times income limit has also been applied to Right to Buy purchases. However, it does not apply to Shared Ownership products, which West One said have recently received separate improvements.

The changes do not affect the higher loan-to-income limits available on West One’s Extra products.

The lender has also changed its automated valuation model criteria for residential mortgage customers, with the enhancements applying to all core remortgage products from its Premier, Platinum and Prime Plus plans.

The maximum loan size eligible for an AVM has increased from £300,000 to £500,000, while the maximum LTV has risen from 70% to 75%.

West One’s underwriting team will run the AVM during the early stages of the application process and tell brokers whether a case can proceed without a physical valuation.

The lender said the changes were designed to speed up the remortgage process by removing unnecessary delays where a physical valuation is not required.

Marie Grundy (pictured), managing director of mortgages at West One, said: “Our aim is to make the remortgage process as smooth and efficient as possible for both brokers and their clients.

“The improvements to our AVM criteria will complement our innovative free fast track legal remortgage process which also includes the acceptance of electronically signed mortgage deeds, meaning more customers can benefit from a faster, lighter-touch process.”