Criteria look up tool

We are a clean credit lender. We will not lend to any applicant who has ever:

• been bankrupt
• been subject to an IVA
• owned a previous property which has been taken into possession or who has surrendered voluntary possession to the lender
• had a CCJ in the last 3 years.

We will not lend if, in the last three years, an applicant has had:

• any arrears at all on a mortgage, fixed payment loan and/or rent
• more than two consecutive missed payments on credit and/or store cards.

We will not usually lend if the applicant has defaulted on any credit agreement in the last three years, or has an outstanding default. 

Communications and mail order records can be ignored, unless the scale and/or frequency of missed payments indicate cause for concern.

As part of our underwriting process we must assess the applicant’s income, credit commitments and cost of living expenses to ensure their ability to pay. 

We need confirmation of the applicant’s committed expenditure including credit cards, overdraft, loans, hire purchase, maintenance, school fees and child care. General household expenditure, for example food and utilities, are automatically accounted for in our affordability calculator.

Any mortgage (other than a formal Buy to Let mortgage) must be included in our affordability calculator. To do this calculate the cost of interest on the non redeemed balance at a nominal rate of 7.74% and enter the monthly equivalent cost in the monthly outgoings field of our affordability calculator.

Applicants obtaining ‘consent to let’ or a ‘let to buy’ loan must include this mortgage in the affordability assessment unless they can provide evidence of a mortgage offer which proves that the retained property is being remortgaged into a formal Buy to Let.

You can use our affordability calculator to get an estimate of what your applicant may be able to borrow based on their income and financial commitments.

The maximum age is 80 at end of mortgage term. The minimum age is 21.

The maximum age is 75 years for the eldest applicant at the expiry of the mortgage term. 

The minimum age is 18.

‘Back to Back’ transactions where ownership of the property has been for less than 6 months are not acceptable and will be declined.

‘Back to Back’ transactions where ownership of the property has been for less than 6 months are not acceptable. 

Assignable contracts are not acceptable and will be declined. 

Builders’ incentives are accepted up to 5% of purchase price with no adjustment to the purchase price or loan. We do not accept guaranteed rental income schemes.

For Help to Buy Equity Loan: Incentives including stamp duty and legal fees are accepted up to 5% of purchase price, with no adjustment to the purchase price or loan. Cash incentives including cashback or deposit are not accepted.

We won’t accept any applications where the broker has a financial interest in the property being mortgaged e.g. the broker submitting the case can’t also be the buyer/owner.

We do not accept concessionary purchase prices on Buy to Let applications.

We will base our lending on the lower of the purchase price or value, except where the discount is at least 25% of the mortgage valuation. In these circumstances we will exclusively use the valuation figure. 

To advise on CBTL mortgages you must be registered to do so. To find out more please see: FCA - Changes to Consumer Buy To Let mortgages

The term contractors covers contractors trading as self employed, limited companies and contractors working through an umbrella firm. Contractors have the option to apply as self employed, requiring 3 years trading and 2 years income figures, or as employment type contractor.

Our contractor lending criteria:

• Maximum 90% LTV, exclusive of fees
• Applicants must have a minimum gross contracting income of £50,000pa for the contractor (not the household)
• Affordability is based on 80% of gross contract income 
• Minimum contracting period 12 months in current occupation. The contract does not have to be with the same agency/employer
• Current contract is required for income assessment, this can be either the original or a certified copy. We will also need copies of all other contracts held in the past 12 months
• We will not accept contractors who have had cumulative contract gaps of one month or more in the last 12 months
• Eligible for interest only, subject to our interest only lending criteria.
• We will not lend to CIS contract workers under our contractor criteria but we will consider them under our self employed criteria.

We will not normally accept applications from applicants with a criminal record unless the conviction is for a minor traffic offence, or is spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

At least one applicant must be an owner occupier at the point of completion (with or without a mortgage).

We will not normally lend if the applicants have unsecured debt (excluding student loans) in excess of 50% of their assessable gross annual income, even if this will be repaid in whole or part before completion. Cases with a lower debt to income ratio may still be referred for individual underwriter assessment.

Applicants with diplomatic status in the UK are not acceptable.

Payment by Direct Debit mandate is compulsory for all loan types.

When a full application has been submitted, visit the Actions tab in our online application system to see which documents are needed for assessment.

You'll need to certify all documents when you upload them. You can do this online.

If we need any additional documents we'll let you know.

All of our lending criteria is applicable to existing customers with some minor exceptions.

All of our lending criteria is applicable to existing customers with some minor exceptions.

Buy to Let mortgages for tenants who are related to the customer are not acceptable and will be declined. We define a related person as:

• spouse
• civil partner
• parents
• grandparents
• siblings
• children, and grandchildren.

A sponsor is a close relative normally a parent or step parent of any applicant, who is added as a co-borrower.

First Start products are available up to 95% LTV (including fees). Subject to meeting the following criteria:

• Maximum loan of £500,000 (including fees)
• Maximum of four applicants (however, only the income of the sponsor and the highest earning applicant will be assessed)
• The sponsor’s minimum assessable income must be at least £30,000
• The highest earning applicant must have a minimum assessable income of at least £20,000
• Maximum age for sponsor at application is 60, and must not exceed 80 years old at the end of term
• Where term extends into retirement please refer to our Lending into Retirement criteria
• Purchases only
• Repayment only
• The sponsor must be a residential owner occupier living in the UK
• The monthly payments need to come from one account
• Applicants cannot own any other property at the time of completion. This doesn’t apply to the sponsor whose mortgage commitments are included in the affordability assessment.

You can choose if the property is owned by the applicant(s) only or jointly by the applicant(s) and the sponsor. If the property to be owned is in the name of the applicant(s) only, then the sponsor, as a condition of the Mortgage Offer, must receive independent legal advice in respect of the transaction before completion.

The sponsor and applicant(s) are jointly and individually liable for the total mortgage.

No prior Buy to Let experience is required, but at least one applicant must be an owner occupier at the point of application.

Funds from this scheme are an acceptable source of deposit. The monthly repayment must be included in the affordability calculation as a commitment.

For first purchases a copy of the Personal Information Note supplied to the applicant will be required to evidence deposit. For movers or remortgages the applicant’s payslip will be required to evidence the monthly loan outgoing.

For applicants who hold a Long Service Advance of Pay (LSAP), the payment must be included as an outgoing in the affordability calculation if continuing after completion.

Forces Help to Buy cannot be used as a deposit on 95% LTV products.

We require confirmation that the applicant has the right to live and work in the UK. The applicant will need to have resided in the UK for long enough to ensure we have a meaningful credit score and employment history, this is normally a minimum of three years.

The following applicants can apply up to our maximum LTV:

• European Economic Area (EEA) Nationals. Switzerland is not in the EEA but has the same status for immigration purposes and is therefore included in this category
• Non EEA Nationals with ‘indefinite leave to remain’
• Applicants who are born in a non EEA country but who have received UK naturalisation.

The following applicants can apply up to 75% LTV:

• Non EEA Nationals with limited rights to work/remain in the UK. Only Tier 1, 2 and Ancestral Visas are acceptable. The underwriter will need to be satisfied that there is an adequate period of time remaining on the visa to warrant the granting of a long term loan.

We require confirmation that the applicant has the right to live and work in the UK. The applicant will need to have resided in the UK for long enough to ensure we have a meaningful credit score and employment history, this is normally a minimum of three years.

The following applicants can apply up to our maximum LTV:

• European Economic Area (EEA) Nationals. Switzerland is not in the EEA but has the same status for immigration purposes and is therefore included in this category
• Non EEA Nationals with ‘indefinite leave to remain’
• Applicants who are born in a non EEA country but who have received UK naturalisation.

The following applicants can apply up to 75% LTV:

• Non EEA Nationals with limited rights to work/remain in the UK. Only Tier 1, 2 and Ancestral Visas are acceptable where the applicant’s income is required to support the loan. The underwriter will need to be satisfied that there is an adequate period of time remaining on the visa to warrant the granting of a long term loan.

Further advance applicants must meet certain criteria:

• UK resident - All applicants must be UK residents
• Minimum loan size - £5,000
• Maximum size - £750,000 (total mortgage including further advance)
• Portfolio - Maximum total borrowing £2m. The total portfolio size is 3 Buy to Let mortgaged properties per applicant (either solely or jointly) across all lenders, including Bank of Ireland Group
• Term - 2 years minimum (or duration of product). The further advance term can be longer than the main mortgage. The charge on the property will not be released until the further advance term has finished
• Income - No minimum income required
• Reasons for borrowing - applicants can borrow funds to raise additional capital to fund most legal purposes, provided the capital is not used for:
  • business or speculative purpose
  • debt consolidation
  • payment of tax
  • overseas property (including timeshare)
  • gambling debts

     

Raising capital to fund a deposit or outright purchase of a Buy to Let is not considered a business purpose.

A solicitor may occasionally be required to act. Your customer is able to choose their own solicitor. You can check if the solicitor is on our panel using our Solicitor Search tool.

• Residential home owner - your customer must be a residential home owner at the time of application (owned outright or subject to a mortgage)

• Repayment options - Capital Repayment, Interest Only or Combination of the two, subject to any Interest Only balance having a suitable Repayment Strategy. Please refer to the Interest Only section of the criteria lookup tool

• Total Loan to Value (LTV) limit - Maximum loan of £750,000 and maximum LTV of 75%

• Valuation of property - A re-valuation will be required (see fee scale below) however where the last recorded Bank of Ireland panel valuation was more than 10 years ago, a standard valuation will be required. Please review the Valuation fees scale of charges

Re-valuation fee scale

• Affordability - Your customer’s ability to pay is assessed on the rental income (which must be received in GBP).

  The rental income must be at least 145% of the monthly interest due, inclusive of any product fees added to the loan. This is calculated using the product rate plus 2.00% – subject to the following minimum rates:

  Product	Minimum Interest Rate
  Fixed rate for less than five years or a variable rate	5.5%
  Fixed rate for five years or more	4.5%

   

• Adverse credit/payday loans - refer to the relevant criteria sections

• All applications are subject to credit score, valuation and underwriting.

Further advance applicants must meet certain criteria:

• Minimum loan size - £5,000
• Maximum loan size - £1,500,000 (total mortgage including further advance)
• Term - 2 years minimum (or product duration). The further advance term can be longer than the main mortgage. The charge on the property will not be released until the further advance term has finished
• Minimum income - £20,000 gross for the household (paid in £GBP)
• Self-employed - Must have been trading for 3 years but only the last 2 years' figures will be used
• Reasons for borrowing - applicants can borrow funds to raise additional capital to fund most legal purposes, provided the capital is not used for: 
  • business or speculative purposes
  • payment of tax
  • gambling debts
  • a timeshare.

Raising capital to fund a deposit or outright purchase of a Buy to Let is not considered a business purpose.

Debt consolidation loans will be considered subject to a maximum loan to value of 75% and individual assessment by our underwriters.

A solicitor may occasionally be required to act.Your customer is able to choose their own solicitor. You can check if the solicitor is on our panel using our Solicitor Search tool.

• Repayment options - Capital Repayment, Interest Only, or combination of the two, subject to any Interest Only balance having a suitable Repayment Strategy and meeting Interest Only criteria. Please refer to the Interest Only section of the criteria lookup tool
• Total Loan to Value (LTV) limits

  Maximum loan size	Maximum LTV
  <£500,000	90% plus fees
  £500,001 - £750,000	85% plus fees
  £750,001 - £1,000,000	80% plus fees
  £1,000,001 - £1,500,000	70% plus fees

• Property - for new build or newly converted properties, the LTV is limited to 85% for houses and 80% for flats. We define a new build property where either the house or flat was sold or first registered (for Leasehold) for the first time in the last 12 months

• Valuation of property - Loans less than £20,000 with a total LTV less than 75% (based on a house price index) may not require a physical valuation of the property. Anything other than this will need a property re-valuation (see fee scale below).

  Where the last recorded Bank of Ireland panel valuation was more than 10 years ago, a standard valuation will be required. Please refer to the relevant criteria section. This will be assessed upon application.

Re-valuation fee scale

• Affordability - Please call our enquiry line on 0345 266 8928* for a calculation
• Adverse credit/payday loans - refer to the relevant criteria sections
• All applications are subject to credit score, valuation and underwriting.

• Maximum 85% LTV and 80% LTV for flats (fees may be added)
• Based on a minimum 5% deposit and minimum 10% equity loan
• England: 
  • First Time Buyers only
  • Regional purchase price caps apply under scheme rules:

• Wales:
  • Maximum purchase price £300,000 (under scheme rules)
  • Maximum Loan £255,000
• Purchases only
• Repayment only
• Eligible new build properties only
• Equity Loan deduction (3% per annum affordability deduction based on equity loan balance)
• The applicant cannot own any other property at time of completion. This includes any investment property
• We do not accept Forces Help to Buy as a source of deposit under this scheme.

We do not offer guarantor loans.

We do not lend on holiday lets.

We don’t lend on properties that need a HMO licence or where there are more than four people named on the tenancy agreement. A HMO is a house in multiple occupation. There are different rules around properties that fall into the category of a HMO, such as the number of sharers and the size of the property. This can be confirmed with the relevant Local Authority.

There is no minimum income required on Buy to Let mortgages. 

We will verify income on every application. We will only accept income contracted and paid in £GBP for our affordability assessment.

For new customers

For repayment mortgages a minimum household income of £20,000 per annum is required.

Interest only or part and part is only available where one applicant earns in excess of £50,000 per annum or joint income exceeds £75,000 per annum (where neither applicant fulfils the individual income requirement of £50,000).

For existing customers moving home

For Port and Mover applications a minimum household income of £20,000 per annum is required. Exceptions may be considered for existing customers who do not require additional borrowing.

Additional borrowing on interest only is only available where one applicant earns in excess of £50,000 per annum or joint income exceeds £75,000 per annum (where neither applicant fulfils the individual income requirement of £50,000).

The following is applicable to both new and existing customers:

Inter family sales are generally acceptable, subject to confirmation that the vendor will not reside in the property after completion.

Interest only or part and part is available. Confirmation of the repayment strategy is required and all repayment strategies must be held, valued and paid in £GBP.

If stated in the Offer of Loan, Bank of Ireland UK will pay the basic legal fees for the work involved in a standard property purchase. This offer of fees assisted conveyancing does not include: 

• Costs a solicitor must pay to a third party such as a local authority or other search fees
• Stamp Duty Land Tax
• Indemnity insurance for defective title
• Registration fees payable to the Land Registry.

The offer also does not include the charge, plus VAT, payable to the solicitor to deal with the settlement of any Stamp Duty Land Tax and the submission of the Stamp Duty Land Tax form or the cost of any associated sale. The solicitor will provide you with full details of this charge and the third party costs. These fees, along with the legal fees for any additional legal work that the solicitor carries out are payable by the applicant.

If the purchase does not complete the applicant will not have to pay for the standard conveyancing work carried out but will have to pay any third party costs already paid by the solicitor.

For property purchases in Scotland

Please contact us for details of our nominated solicitor when obtaining the Approval in Principle. If the applicant chooses not to use our nominated solicitor they will be liable for the legal costs.

More information about legal fees can be found in our Standard Legal Fees document.

If stated in the Offer of Loan, Bank of Ireland UK will pay for the standard legal fees and disbursements (excluding additional work) for remortgages, providing the transaction is completed through our legal conveyancing partner. The law firm appointed by our legal conveyancing partner is instructed to act for us only. Bank of Ireland UK will not pay for charges relating to additional work outside the scope of a standard remortgage transaction.

Please note – If applicants wish to arrange their own legal representation they will be responsible for all legal costs and disbursements incurred.

For all remortgage cases there are some additional administration fees which aren’t covered by Bank of Ireland UK:

• Further valuation reports
• Related legal services
• Transfer of equity
• Deed of postponement
• Deed of grant
• Deed of variation
• Merger of freehold or leasehold title
• Leasehold supplements
• Change of name
• A telegraphic transfer fee of £30 + VAT is payable where the law firm is required to redeem an existing loan or send any surplus funds to your applicants
• Local searches for loans over £1,000,000
• Any cases where an exceptional amount of work is required to correct a defective title

For remortgage cases on leasehold properties there may be an additional legal fee which isn’t covered by Bank of Ireland UK.

• A leasehold supplement fee of £95 + VAT may be applicable where a full leasehold title check is necessary.

Additional legal fees

Additional fees may be charged for additional work and services required over and above the standard legal work in a fees assisted remortgage case. The law firm will discuss your applicants’ requirements with them and obtain their consent to proceed before any such fees are incurred. 

More information about legal fees can be found in our Standard Legal Fees document.

Where term extends into the applicants retirement the following criteria will apply. 

Where retirement is less than 10 years away:

• Details of both current income and anticipated retirement income will need to be proven
• The lower of the current income or anticipated retirement income is used for affordability purposes

Where retirement is 10 years or more away:

• Current income is to be used for affordability purposes
• Evidence of existence pension contributions must be provided

We will allow applicants to remortgage their current residential property to a Buy to Let and capital raise to help fund the purchase for their new main residence.

Unless we are also processing the new residential mortgage application you must provide us with a copy of the Offer of Loan for the new residential purchase. If a loan is not required to complete the residential purchase you must tell us the address and the purchase price of the new property.

Completion of our mortgage must not take place prior to the purchase of the new residence.

 For existing customers

The following limits apply to both purchases and remortgages. Please note the minimum loan size is £25,001.

Applicants borrowing above 90% LTV - please also see the 'Loan to value limits (Residential) - borrowing above 90% LTV' section.

• Maximum 95% LTV (including fees)
• Repayment only
• Purchases only
• Maximum loan £500,000 (including fees)
• Applicants cannot hold an interest in another property at completion
• Not available to contractors – please see ‘Contractors’ section
• Standard property considerations – please see ‘Property (Residential)’ section
• Please also see 'First Start' section.

• Purchases - maximum 85% LTV and 80% LTV for flats
• Eligible new build properties have been built or converted within the last 12 months and are subject to a first sale, even if previously occupied.

If your customer has an application with us and their purchase falls through, you can complete and send us a new property details form for a change of property.

By applying for a new property, your customer’s case will be reassessed by one of our underwriters. This means we may ask you for additional information. Our decision to lend may also be affected if there is a change in their circumstances or the new property isn’t considered suitable.

The maximum number of applicants is four. We will only use the income of the two highest earners but assess all applicants' ability to pay.

Our offer of loan is valid for a period of six months from the date of the offer for both purchases and remortgages, unless stated otherwise in the offer document.

If completion has not taken place within six months, an offer extension can be considered. This will be subject to a full reassessment of the application by an underwriter, including assessment against our current criteria, re-verification of income and a re-valuation of the security which the applicant will be charged for. A new product may need to be selected from our current range.

We will consider applications from applicants on parental leave. We will independently obtain an employer's reference to give length of employment, confirmation of full parental benefits and that the applicant intends to return to work and on what date. We will need to be satisfied of the affordability of the loan during the period of reduced household income so we may request evidence of savings. We may also need confirmation of any childcare costs on their return to work.

We will not normally lend if any applicant has taken out a payday loan in the last year. Applicants with payday loans taken out more than one year ago will be assessed individually to ensure affordability can be demonstrated.

If your customer is looking to move, you could help them port their rate to a new property or take out a new loan with us.

Please see our porting and moving page for more information on how you can help your customers.

Private sales where no estate agent is acting are not acceptable.

We can consider an application for an applicant within their probationary period as long as their employment has been continuous. The reason for leaving their previous employment must be established, or where the applicant’s employment is the first appointment, we will need confirmation of what they did previously.

You can apply for a product transfer if:

• your customer's account number starts 80 and is ten digits
• your customer is applying for a product from the same brand they initially applied through
• the mortgage amount, term and repayment method are staying the same
• you only need one offer and do not require a revaluation of the property
• the mortgage is outside any Early Repayment Charge (ERC) period, or has four months or less remaining on the ERC period
• your customer is not residing in the property for Buy to Let mortgages
• your customer is residing in the property for residential mortgages, unless in the armed forces
• your customer is not in arrears or in a concessionary period on their mortgage
• the remaining mortgage term exceeds the chosen product by at least six months.

To view our products or apply visit our product transfer page. 

To help protect against fraud, the Anti Money Laundering Regulations (AML) require us to check the names and addresses of all our customers.

We will attempt to do this electronically, but if this fails then each applicant must supply one item from the proof of identity list and one item from the proof of occupancy list.

The same document cannot be used to verify both their identity and their residency.

 Please note:

• Documents being used to prove residency don’t need to show the full name, but initials must match
• The address must match against the application form
• *Statements downloaded from the internet (e-statement) can only be accepted if Proof of Identity is provided by either Passport, UK driving licence or EU ID card. An e-statement must be printed as a PDF document, not an excel download. It must contain the bank name and logo, date, full name and address. If it's used along with a driving licence, the addresses must be the same.

You can securely upload and certify documents for assessment via our online application system.

We will only lend on a maximum of two properties within the same exact postcode.

The property must be in a good state of repair, however redecoration work is acceptable. 

We need to be satisfied the applicants can fund the deposit plus any minor repair costs.

The property must be lettable within 60 days, and be suitable for resale within the owner occupier market.

Transactions where the borrower is purchasing through a Property or Investment Club are not acceptable.

We will lend for auction purchases in principle. To be acceptable the property must meet our minimum requirements for both condition and title. The applicant should ensure there is adequate time to process their application before legal completion.

The minimum property value is £60,000 (£40,000 for properties located in Northern Ireland).

The maximum property value is £4,000,000.

Purchases where the vendor is a building firm or development company in which the applicant has a financial interest are not acceptable.

Ability to pay is assessed on the rental income (which must be received in £GBP).

The rental income must be at least 145% of the monthly interest due inclusive of any product fees added to the loan. This is calculated using the notional interest rate below (whichever is applicable):

We normally require applicants to have a minimum of 3 years’  UK residency prior to application to ensure we have a meaningful credit score and employment history.

We do not offer partial retentions. Lending will be based on either:

• current valuation with no retention, or
• after works valuation with a full retention.

Sale and rent backs where the vendor is becoming the tenant upon completion are not acceptable and will be declined.

Transcripts are not permitted.

In order to instruct a firm of solicitors/conveyancers to act for Bank of Ireland UK, they will need to be on our approved panel. If the applicant chooses to proceed with a solicitor/conveyancer who is not on our approved panel, then we will appoint our own firm to act for us. The applicant will be charged for this.

To find a solicitor or licensed conveyancer on our panel, use our solicitor search tool.

Proof of deposit may be requested at our underwriter's discretion.

The following are acceptable sources of deposit:

• equity from sale of property
• savings
• family gift
• inheritance
• capital raising on another property.

Unacceptable sources of deposit are:

• personal loans
• funding from credit cards
• vendor/builder cashback without additional minimum deposit from an acceptable source.

Proof of deposit may be requested at our underwriter's discretion.

The following are acceptable sources of deposit:

• equity from sale of property
• savings
• family gift
• inheritance
• capital raising on another property
• forces Help to Buy.

Unacceptable sources of deposit are:

• personal Loans
• funding from credit cards
• vendor/builder cashback without additional minimum deposit from an acceptable source.

The maximum term is 35 years.

The minimum term is 5 years (or term of promotional period for existing customers moving home). 

Where we are approached by an applicant with a request to accept a retype, consideration will only be given in the following circumstances:

• Valuation must have been carried out within the past four weeks (12 weeks for a Scottish purchase)
• The Valuer who carried out the original report must be on Bank of Ireland’s panel for the postcode in which the property is located
• The previous valuation must have been carried out for another lender
• A copy of the valuation report must be provided to Valuation Services before any retype can be agreed
• The requested retype must be for the same applicant
• It must also be for the same product type
• The valuation fee will be the agreed panel fee. This is non-refundable once the valuation has been completed.

Vendor paid deposits for second-hand properties will be deducted from the gross purchase price to give a true net purchase price. Our maximum LTV lending will be based on this lower sum.

Where an appeal against a valuation is requested we’ll need evidence of 3 transactions of similar properties (comparables) to be submitted within 14 working days from the date you were aware of the valuation.

Where appealing both rent and capital values, we’ll need 3 comparables for each.

These should be completed sales or lettings within the last 6 months of similar properties and locations, ideally in the same postcode. The following information will need to be provided for each comparable item*:

• Full address (i.e. house or flat number and postcode)
• Details of who sold or let the property
• The agreed sale price or rent
• Date of the transaction
• Source of information

You may want to speak to your Business Development Manager for guidance if you are looking to challenge a valuation decision.

*We don’t accept links to web adverts. Estate Agent letters, automated valuations, details of unsold/unlet properties and previous Valuers’ opinions aren’t considered appropriate evidence and will not be considered.