Green products can now be accessed by expats and international residents
Gatehouse Bank has announced enhancements to its green home finance offering, extending the availability of green products – previously available to UK residents only – to expats and international residents.
The change will apply to home purchase plans and buy-to-let, including houses in multiple occupation, and multi-unit freehold blocks.
The challenger bank said its green home finance products are the first Shariah-compliant products of their kind in the UK. Under this scheme, customers acquiring or refinancing a property with an energy performance certificate rating of ‘A’ or ‘B’ will qualify for a 0.10% reduction on the standard rental rate.
The lender will also offset the carbon emissions generated by the average UK property for the initial two- or five-year fixed term, and for as long as the customer remains with the bank with a qualifying property.
At the same time, Gatehouse Bank has increased the maximum finance amount on its green home finance products from £500,000 to £5 million, which means that every product in the bank’s portfolio now comes with a green option.
Existing customers who qualify and are coming towards the end of their fixed term period will automatically be offered Gatehouse Bank’s green product options too.
The full list of Gatehouse Bank’s buy-to-let products is available online, as well as the list of its home purchase plans.
“Our Shariah-compliant green home finance offering is unique within the sector and has been designed to enhance our competitiveness while providing support for customers looking to reduce their impact on the environment,” commented John Mace, senior product manager at Gatehouse Bank.
“This announcement is also a step forward in upholding Gatehouse Bank’s own environmental commitments as a founding signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking in which we have committed to strategically aligning our business to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement.”
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