The 13th biggest UK mortgage lender, according to yesterday’s CML figures, will no longer put restrictions on the total number of units within a block of flats – previously a limit of 48 units applied restricting lending to smaller developments.

Skipton’s new lending policy comes into effect this Friday. The mutual will not lend on local authority flats, past or present, and all qualifying flats must have lift access.

Kris Brewster, Skipton’s head of products said:

“Across the country, and particularly in London and the south east, we know there are high percentages of properties that are above five storeys and contain more than 48 flats. In changing our lending policy we are now able to help many more people secure their dream home, no matter how high up it is.

“After reviewing our old policy we could see that it really didn’t make sense to restrict our lending on quality flat developments simply due to their height or size when we have independent valuations in place.

“As the UK’s fourth largest building society, we’re committed to doing everything we can to stabilise and sustain the property market. It’s what we’ve been doing for 160 years – and this new move will help enable more people to get the keys to their new homes.”