valuation partners of Platform, the intermediary brand of The Co-operative Bank, are now able to carry out physical inspections of properties in England.
Following the government's move to reopen the housing market and ease some lockdown restrictions, valuation partners of Platform, the intermediary brand of The Co-operative Bank, are now able to carry out physical valuations of properties in England.
Platform has stated that it is awaiting further guidance on properties within the rest of the UK, and will continue carrying out desktop valuations where possible.
Desktop valuations can take place on residential remortgage and revaluations up to 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) and residential purchases up to 75% LTV.
The maximum property limit for desktop valuations is £1m in Greater London and £750,ooo elsewhere.
Key exclusions will be buy-to-let (BTL) applications above 60% LTV, new builds, non-standard construction and LTVs above 80% for remortgage and 75% for purchase.
At the same time as bringing in physical valuations, Platforms is reintroducing BTL mortgages up to 60% LTV.
There will also be rate changes to select on-sale products coming into effect.
Fred Sharp, head of intermediary business at Platform, said: “We are glad to reintroduce physical valuations in line with the guidance from today.
"Our focus over the short term will be to work through applications that are currently on hold as quickly and safely as possible.
"We will complete valuations in date order with the oldest applications being looked at first.
“We encourage our broker partners to advise us of any material changes to their clients’ circumstances, especially if the client no longer wants to proceed with the mortgage application, this will enable us to focus on the applications that are progressing.
“The safety of our customers and valuers remains our number one priority and valuations will involve a detailed safety assessment.
"We understand that some customers will not feel comfortable letting a valuer into the property at this time, where this is the case we will attempt a desktop valuation or place the valuation on hold where this option is not possible.”
Carolyne Gregory, head of retail lending at The Co-operative Bank said: “To support landlords we are reintroducing our range of competitive buy-to-let mortgages.
"We understand that finding a good value deal with low costs is important, and especially so during economic uncertainty.
“We are also supporting those looking for a mortgage for their home with affordable home loan options and we will be reducing some of our rates by up to 0.10 percentage points from Wednesday 20 May, which is up to £150 per year based on an average mortgage.
“We continue to offer a wider range of support for our customers which includes the ability to take a mortgage payment holiday, and we will also look for further opportunities to help customers with their finances at this challenging time.”
