Keystone Property Finance has relaunched as a specialist intermediary-only buy-to-let lender, with full lender status.
According to chief executive David Whittaker, this follows six years of success, during which Keystone originated more than £400m of loans via intermediaries, networks and mortgage clubs.
It has now stepped up to full lender status and will be offering rates starting at 2.99 per cent with the support of its new funding partners.
Additionally, the lender has launched a cloud-based platform called MyKeystone, which brokers will be able to use in order to submit and track applications.
The cloud-based platform aims to provide a refined application process where full mortgage applications can be submitted in 20 minutes with brokers receiving an instant agreement in principle (AIP), followed by a manual decision from Keystone's enhanced underwriting team after the full mortgage application has been submitted.
This is said to speed up the process as there is nothing stopping the brokers keying a full mortgage application if the instant credit check is acceptable at AIP stage.
Mr Whittaker said Keystone was well-placed to lend to landlords borrowing both personally and through a variety of corporate structures, having already established itself as a lender for landlords with complex borrowing requirements, and those looking to finance high-yielding properties such as houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) and multi-units.
Mr Whittaker said: "As the buy to let market realigns to the new tax and regulatory landscape, it is important that, as a lender Keystone provides products and systems to enable brokers to support their landlords through this period of change."
He added: "We are particularly proud to be incorporating the buy-to-let hub, which allows brokers to shape, analyse and report on landlord portfolios to an ever-increasing number of specialist buy-to-let lenders."
The relaunch has also seen the firm introduce various changes within its business operations, including an increased team of business development managers, underwriters and case managers.
Arun Mohammed is an intern with Financial Adviser