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Lending criteria – residential

Service Level Agreements

• AIP Turnaround time: 4 working days from receipt of completed application form which has passed an initial Quality Assurance Check
• Full Mortgage Application to Formal Mortgage Offer turnaround time: 14 days from date of FMA (Full Mortgage Application)

Rates are Only Secured when your application reaches Full Mortgage Application (FMA) Stage – we will confirm in writing when a rate has been secured and all lending is subject to a satisfactory valuation of the proposed property.

Use our A to Z tool below for details of our residential lending criteria – click on the “A – C” or “D – K” etc to view the criteria headings.

Use our A to Z tool below for details of our residential lending criteria

A-C D-K L-N O-Q R-Z

Where a re-inspection is required as a Special Condition the fee must be paid by the applicant.

Please refer to the Bank if an applicants income has been reduced for a specific period to see whether can this be used to assess affordability.

The Bank only only considers mortgages for properties located in England & Wales.

The Bank does not currently consider BTL mortgages.

The Bank do not consider this for either capital raising or debt consolidation for business purposes.

The Bank has introduced a cash back for selected applications, please refer to the rate sheets which will state if a cash back is applicable. Any cash back is subject to a minimum qualfying loan amount and any such cash back will be paid to the customer by the Bank within 60 days of date of completion.

Minimum qualfying loan amount to benefit from the cash back is £200,000.

Maximum LTV for a re-mortgage case is 75% LTV.

Cash back will be paid to the customer by the Bank within 60 days of date of completion.

The Bank consider cases up to 90% max LTV. This is subject to product availability.

Provision of the details of all commitments being cleared (provider name/type of commitment/£ outstanding) would be required. A special condition on the mortgage offer to the client/broker and solicitor would be added stating that we require proof of debts have been cleared within 1 month of draw down in the form of statements.

Capital raising for Home Improvements is considered with maximum LTV of 90% – this is subject to product availability.

The Bank will consider cases up to 75% max LTV. If the capital raise is for a deposit then the rental income on the new BTL would have to meet the Bank’s self funding model to be discounted for affordability purposes.

For BTL properties to be considered as self-funding the rental income needs to exceed 125% of the monthly mortgage payment of an interest only mortgage with an assumed rate of 5%.

Please refer to the Bank.

Not considered currently.

The Bank supports shared ownership mortgages and can lend up to 95% of the share on a house or flat. We support staircasing up to and including full ownership of the property and will consider capital raising for home improvements and debt consolidation cases.

Where home improvements are sought/required on a re-mortgage application, the Bank requires sight of the estimates or invoices form the company carrying out the work. The figure, estimate or invoice must be the same or greater than the additional borrowing being requested.

The Bank considers raising funds to purchase land up to 90% LTV – subject to product availability.

The Bank considers staircasing applications on our shared ownership product range up to 95% LTV of the share that is being purchased by the applicant.

For outright ownership applications / final staircasing we consider;

Non Keyworker Product Range – Max LTV is 75% of the full market value
Those who qualfy for Key worker product range – Max LTV is 95% of the full market value – subject to product availiability

Note that Reliance Bank will require a copy of the formal Housing Association approval for all staircasing applications

The Bank will consider if the applicant is looking to buy out the HTB scheme in full – max LTV is 90% subject to product availability.

Please refer to the Bank.

Please refer to the Bank.

The Bank will consider Rent to Buy if similar to the Right to Buy scheme.

Rental Income can be considered when assessing affordability and the Bank would be prepared to use 60% of the total rental income if this is the only source of income. The applicant is considered a professional landlord and as such the Bank will review income from completed SA302’s / accountants reference. The Bank considers the 2 year average of finalised figures.

Maximum term for a capital and interest repayment method is 40 years subject to the mortgage finishing before the eldest clients 75th birthday and also the client meeting our Lending Into Retirement criteria. This would reduce to 70 years of age if using earned income as opposed to pension income for up to age 75. Term is determined by age next birthday to age 70 or anticipated retirement age whichever is lower.

If applicants have had a property Repossessed / Voluntary Surrender the Bank will consider after a minimum of 6 years from date of being satisifed.

Please refer to the Bank.

Please refer to the Bank.

The Bank does not consider retained profit in a business when assessing affordability.

Bank supports the right to buy scheme. They will allow a client to borrow up to 100% of the discounted purchase price, provided that these do not exceed 90% of the market value (subject to product availibility).

Where home improvements are sought/required on a remortgage application, Bank requires sight of the estimates or invoices form the company carrying out the work. The figure or estimate or invoice must be the same or greater than the additional borrowing being requested.

Additional borrowing is not permitted on House Purchase cases and the loan amount must be restricted to no greater than the discounted purchase price.

The Bank does not consider currently.

The Bank does not consider currently.

Please refer to the Bank.

The Bank does not consider currently.

The Bank does not consider currently.

Please refer to the Bank.

Please refer to the Bank.

The consider a second home up to 75% LTV max used for commuting purposes for own use or dependents use. Please note there should be no formal AST otherwise the Bank will see it as a BTL (refer to BTL criteria).

To consider this income for affordability assessment purposes the applicant(s) will need to be in the role for a minimum period of 3 months prior to date of full mortgage application. The Bank will also need to check to see if this is compliant with regards to the terms of the EU time directive as well as links to their main job.

The Bank does not consider currently.

Service Charges / Ground Rent and Maintenance costs are all considered when assessing affordability.

The Bank does not consider currently.

The Bank supports shared ownership mortgages and can lend up to 95% of the share (subject to product avaliability) that the client is looking to buy/own through a mortgage. Personal deposit needs to be 5% (again subject to product avaliability) and can be through savings or through a gift from family or friend, please refer to gifted deposit criteria. The LTV limits do not differ if purchasing a house or flat and we consider staircasing up to and including full ownership of the property to include capital raising for home improvements.

The Banks current minimum share is 25%.

The Bank currently offers a cash back of £850 for all Shared Ownership cases (this includes all staircasing & remortgage applications) All cash back incentivies are clearly defined on the product sheets and all cash back is paid to the customer within 60 days from date of completion.

Minimum qualfying loan amount to benefit from the cash back is £50,000.

Maximum LTV for Shared Ownership applications is 95% against the value of the share.

Cash back will be paid to the customer by the Bank within 60 days of date of completion.

The Bank does not consider currently.

Please refer to Contractors criteria section.

An application cannot be considered where the current tenant will continue to reside in the property on completion as the Bank does not currently consider BTL mortgages.

The Bank does not consider solar panelled properties where the panels are not owned by the client and are leased from the energy provider due to adverse saleability issues arising in these instances.

Self Employed Sole Trader Applicants are considered.

Please refer to the Bank.

We do not consider cases where the Title Deeds are to be split on completion as the Mortgage deed and Title deed need to match.

Please refer to the Bank however any property pre 1987 build will not be considered.

The Bank does not consider currently.

A Student Loan can be ignored when assessing monthly affordability if the client is making monthly payments towards student loans as a deduction from salary as this will be evidenced via payslips.

The Bank does not consider currently.

Applications will be considered where:

  1. The applicant has a current continuous contracting employment of 12 months or more, with 6 months of the contract remaining; or

The applicant has 2 years continuous service in the same type of contracting employment.

Evidence of their employment track record may be required
Applicants should be treated as self employed if they pay their own tax or subcontract to more than one company.

IT & Construction Industry Scheme Contractors will be treated as self employed.

The Bank does not consider currently.

Please refer to the Bank.

We will consider up to 60% of any Additional Duty Hours in conjunction with their main salary for affordability assessment purposes.

Please refer to the Bank.

The Bank does not consider currently.

Please refer to the Bank.

Income affordability assessment is based upon a minimum of the last 2 years finalised accounts / SA302’s / tax calculations / accountants reference.

Any rental shortfall will be treated as a commitment.

Please refer to the Bank.

Please refer to the Bank.

The Bank takes into account travel costs as part of the affordability assessment so would consider these commitments.

The Bank does not consider currently.

Underpayments / Payment Holidays are considered but need to be reffered to the Bank.

All mortgage applicants must be assessed in terms of rights to reside in the UK and whether or not they currently live in the UK. Applicants who are UK citizens or applicants with Permanent Rights to Reside (PRR) in the UK and have a Biometric Residence Permit are accepted under the Bank’s standard mortgage lending policy.

Applicants who are Self Employed under an Umbrella Company will have income for the affordability assessment based on the last 2 years finalised accounts / SA302’s / tax calculations / accountants reference.

Underpayments / Payment Holidays are acceptable subject to referral to Bank for consideration of request.

The Bank classifies these as re-mortgages, re-mortgage criteria applies and the re-mortgage / unencumbered product range is available.

The Bank will be prepared to use 75% of the Universal Credit payments being made to an application. NOTE that this does exclude Housing Benefit payment contribution.

Verification – the Bank will ask to see 3 months bank statements + the 3 months corresponding universal credit statements to enable the bank to deduct the Housing Benefit element from the award and to then work out a 3 month average, this average will then be annualised and then 75% of this will be utilised for affordability purposes.

The Bank automatically declines where there have been 2 or more late/missed payments in the last 6 months.

Please refer to the Bank.

The Bank automatically declines on 2 or more missed/late payments within the last 6 months. Any arrears of 2 months or more in the last 6 years must be disclosed.

Please refer to the Bank.

The Bank can arrange a Homebuyers valuation only. If a structural report is required the Bank will require separate Standard valuation.

The Bank does not consider currently.

The Bank does not consider currently.

All mortgage applicants must be assessed in terms of rights to reside in the UK and whether or not they currently live in the UK. Applicants who are UK citizens or applicants with Permanent Rights to Reside (PRR) in the UK and have a Biometric Residence Permit are considered under the Bank’s standard mortgage lending policy.

The Bank considers pension income for affordability assessment purposes on lending going into retirement The Bank will consider up to 60% of the pension income.

The Bank will consider up to 75% of the income for affordability assessment purposes.

Please refer to the Bank.

The Bank will consider up to 75% of the income for affordability assessment purposes.

We require a minimum of 2 years trading as income affordability assessment is based upon last 2 years finalised accounts / SA302’s / tax calculations / accountants reference covering this period.

The Bank does not consider currently.

The Salvation Army

We are proud to be the bank of The Salvation Army International. Find out more about our shared history.

We are proud to be the bank of The Salvation Army International. Find out more about our shared history.

Reliance Bank Limited,
Faith House,
23 - 24 Lovat Lane,
London,
EC3R 8EB

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