"By creating this third product channel and aligning our sales team with owner-occupied, buy-to-let or ‘Solutions', we can offer a much more focused service proposition"
- George Gee, managing director at Foundation Home Loans
Foundation Home Loans has announced the launch of ‘Solutions by Foundation’, a new suite of specialist criteria and products for an additional layer of specialist buy-to-let needs, covering multi-occupancy properties, mixed-use property (part-commercial) and expat borrowers.
Solutions by Foundation offers lending on a wider range of properties, most notably mixed-use (part-commercial) properties with combined residential and commercial elements, where the valuation and rental income from the residential part exceeds 60% of the total.
It will also provide finance on specialist multi-occupation properties including MUBs up to 10 units, and has options for a no bedroom limit on HMOs, plus the range will also cater for expats looking to finance a variety of property types, including holiday lets, short-term lets and HMOs.
The lender has recruited specifically for Solutions by Foundation in order to support the expansion into these new product areas, with a new regional area manager, Rick Davey, joining the business.
Rick has 18 years’ experience working in the specialist buy-to-let market and has been brought in to manage relationships with advisers in the North, focusing solely on the new Solutions by Foundation brand.
As part of this change – with the splitting of the product ranges into three distinct channels: buy-to-let, owner-occupied and ‘Solutions’ – Foundation has changed its sales teams to specifically align with each of the three.
The new range includes products for mixed-use (part-commercial) properties, from 6.84% fixed for two years up to 70% LTV, which comes with a 2.5% fee; and products for large HMOs with no limit on bedrooms up to 65% LTV, starting from 6.29% for a five-year fixed rate with a 2% fee. For MUBs rates start at 6.24% for a five-year fixed rate with a 2% fee.
Alongside the new product suite launch, Foundation has introduced a number of other changes, including a widening of its early remortgage criteria which is now applicable across the majority of its buy-to-let and Solutions ranges, meaning the lender will consider cases where the property has been owned for less than six months.
Foundation has also made changes to its valuation and application fees, moving the application fee to £199 and making reductions to the valuation fee scale which it believes will positively impact a large number of customers across both its buy-to-let and owner-occupied ranges.
George Gee, managing director at Foundation Home Loans, said: “We were keen to build on our existing reputation for broad criteria and close adviser relationships, and, with this brand-new specialist, criteria-led 'Solutions' brand, we are offering a far greater array of options to landlord and investor clients.
“By creating this third product channel and aligning our sales team with owner-occupied, buy-to-let or ‘Solutions', we can offer a much more focused service proposition designed to support more advisers to grow their businesses by opening the doors to more borrower and property types.
“This launch marks the first steps in the development of the ‘Solutions’ brand, and the beginning of an exciting journey in evolving it to consider and include even more products and options within the buy-to-let specialist marketplace to meet the needs of even more landlords.”
