Suffolk BS relaxes criteria on tower blocks and currencies 

Suffolk Building Society has made three changes to its lending criteria, which boosts its flexibility when the mutual makes lending decisions for borrowers. 

The firm says it will permit lending on blocks with a maximum height of seven storeys, which moves from five storeys previously.  

It adds that consideration will also be given for properties up to 10 storeys high for shared ownership applications. 

The lender will also adapt how it views the child maintenance arrangements that are agreed on by parents outside of the court system.  

It will now accept these maintenance payments, often called family-based arrangements, that can be supported by 12 months of bank statements. 

Finally, it will accept five new currencies for residential, expat residential, and regulated buy-to-let products where the applicant is paid in — Saudi riyal, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Swedish krona and the Danish krone. 

These new currencies join the euro, Swiss franc, Norwegian krone, US dollar, Canadian dollar, Singapore dollar, Hong Kong dollar, UAE dirham, Kuwaiti dinar and Qatari riyal, as acceptable in these lending areas. 

The mutual adds that there are no currency restrictions for BTL, or holiday let, standard and expat.

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