Six big UK banks to start lending on flats with cladding

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander to offer mortgages on medium and high-rise properties from January

Six of the UK’s largest banks will start lending on medium and high-rise flats with cladding from January, in a move that could help thousands of people stuck in properties they have not been able to sell or remortgage.

Lenders including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest and Santander, said they would consider fresh mortgage applications from 9 January, after receiving long-awaited guidance from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) on how to value affected properties.