Offa has expanded its buy-to-let (BTL) criteria to include first-time landlords, with the minimum age required now just 18-years-old.
As part of the criteria change, buy-to-let applicants will only need to earn £18,000 per annum, and the way finance affordability is assessed has been simplified so that customers with terms under five years pay the standard rate plus 1%, while those with terms of 5-years or more just pay the standard rate.
Portfolio clients will be subjected to more realistic stress testing, based on the average of current five-year fixed rate products, currently 6.6%, rather than standard variable rate.
Offa has also expanded opportunities for overseas clients, with British expats in Malaysia and Hong Kong also now eligible for Offa’s Sharia-compliant BTL finance.
Sagheer Malik, chief commercial officer and managing director of retail finance at Offa, said: “We strive to make our Sharia-compliant home finance available to the majority of people rather than just the richest among us, which means constantly working to make our services inclusive and affordable.
“This is an example of our actions speaking louder than our words, as we now accept first time buyers for the first time, drop the minimum required age 18 and make our stress testing more transparent, along with many other changes to that make applying for our finance straightforward, quick and easy.”
