Roma and Together update LTVs and valuation processes

Roma has increased its loan to value (LTV) by five per cent on residential bridging and will now consider applications up to 75 per cent, returning to pre-Covid levels.

It is also working with selected packagers to allow them to instruct their own valuations which should allow faster completions and give packagers more control over cases.

Previously Roma had controlled all the valuation instructions.

Nick Jones, commercial director of Roma Finance, said: “In 2021, it is essential we continue to make advances with products, processes and technology to maintain the speed intermediaries and customers need for their property investments.

“These enhancements will allow more customers to access short term finance and enable even faster case processing and completions.”

Together increases AVM use

Meanwhile, Together has updated its criteria to allow more automatic property valuations which it expects will reduce costs and speed up mortgage applications.

It believes more than half its cases can now be completed through digital valuations, up from a third in 2019.

The rules apply across all personal finance products, with a maximum LTV of 70 per cent or 65 per cent for regulated bridging, and to a maximum loan size of £250,000 and a confidence level of 5+.

The lender now has no maximum property value on automatic valuations for regulated bridging and first charge loans, while for second charge loans this has increased to £750,000.

Previously the limit for all application was £500,000.

For home purchases, Together will accept the minimum Hometrack valuation or purchase price, or the council valuation for right to buy properties.

Physical valuations will still be needed on shared ownership properties, those of non-standard construction and new-builds, it added.

Head of intermediary sales Sundeep Patel (pictured) said: “We estimate that changes to our rules mean we will be able to use Hometrack’s automated valuation model in more than 50 per cent of personal finance applications, up from about a third of cases in 2019.

“It’s an incredibly useful tool, particularly under the current Covid-related lockdown restrictions, and could reduce costs for intermediaries submitting cases to us, while speeding up the application process by removing the time it takes for physical valuations of properties.”