Darlington Building Society has reduced selected rates across its residential, specialist residential, shared ownership, buy-to-let and holiday let mortgage ranges.
The changes, which take effect immediately, apply to selected two-year and five-year fixed-rate products for purchase and remortgage borrowers.
The society has cut its residential two-year fixed rate at 80% loan-to-value from 5.29% to 5.09%, a reduction of 20bps.
Its specialist residential Visa two-year fixed rate at 90% loan-to-value is now 5.99%, while its shared ownership two-year fixed rate has been reduced by 10bps from 5.89% to 5.79%.
Darlington’s standard buy-to-let two-year fixed rate is now 5.49%, while its holiday let two-year fixed rate is now 5.59%.
The society said the changes were intended to support brokers placing cases for first-time buyers, landlords and clients with more specialist requirements, particularly where affordability, income structures or property use fall outside standard high-street criteria.
Darlington continues to offer buy-to-let and holiday let criteria including no minimum income requirement, no maximum age, support for first-time buyers and first-time landlords, remortgaging a former residential property to buy-to-let, no six-month ownership rule, Airbnb acceptance for holiday let applications and up to 90 days’ personal use on holiday let properties.
Chris Blewitt (pictured), head of mortgage distribution at Darlington Building Society, said: “One of the biggest challenges for brokers at the moment isn’t necessarily finding a mortgage, it’s finding a mortgage that genuinely fits the client’s circumstances.
“We regularly see cases involving first-time landlords, borrowers on visas, holiday let operators and clients looking to remortgage a former residential property into the buy-to-let market. None of these are particularly unusual scenarios, but they can still sit outside the comfort zone of some lenders.
“On cases like these, criteria is just as important as rate. Brokers need lenders that can look at the full picture rather than at a rate that’s competitive, which is why we’ve continued to focus on both pricing and flexibility across the range.”