The move follows feedback from intermediaries who have requested that Kensington take its intelligent approach to lending to higher LTVs for first-time buyers and home movers.
As well as increasing its maximum LTV, Kensington has also made changes to criteria to make its mortgages more accessible for customers and offer greater opportunity for intermediaries.
The lender has simplified its minimum income requirements for first time buyers borrowing more than 80% LTV.
Single applicants will now need to demonstrate a minimum income of £35,000, with joint applicants demonstrating a minimum joint income of £40,000. There is no separate minimum income requirement for the main applicant on joint applications.
In addition to these changes to its residential range, Kensington has enhanced criteria on its buy to let products. For landlords who can demonstrate they have satisfactorily maintained mortgages on at least four buy to let properties for the previous 12 months, Kensington will waive the requirement to demonstrate minimum income - streamlining the process for investors with a proven track record.
And finally, to round off the latest criteria enhancements to its range, Kensington has introduced free valuations to complement the free legals it already offers as an incentive to remortgage customers.
Charles Morley, Head of Sales at Kensington, says:
"At Kensington we are dedicated to supporting mortgage intermediaries and helping them to grow their business. In order to do this we need to engage with intermediaries, understand what they want and, where possible, act on their feedback to improve our proposition.
"Today's enhancements are the result of that process.
"Our research tells us that the market needs more 90% LTV products where responsible lending decisions can be supported by consistent, individual underwriting. Many first-time buyers do not have extensive credit histories because they have not managed a mortgage in the past.
"And if they have not used credit cards or taken other forms of credit this may impact their ability to pass a credit score and prove a barrier to securing a mortgage on their first home.
"Kensington are different. We use an experienced team of underwriters alongside our technology, which means we are able to consider all of an applicant's circumstances even if they do not have a significant file of historic activity with the credit rating agencies."
