KENT Reliance Building Society has been named best regional lender at this year’s Mortgage Magazine awards.

With its emphasis on openness and a fair deal for borrowers, Kent Reliance has set itself apart in a number of ways.

Its mortgage products are available to all residential borrowers on identical terms.

New borrowers are not subsidised by long-standing customers and its Lifetime Loyalty and Tracker loans provide long-term value throughout the term of the mortgage rather than for a short initial period only.

Kent Reliance has also pioneered a number of firsts in the mortgage market, including:

• Its innovative FixTra mortgage was the first to offer a combination of fixed and tracker interest rates in a single loan.

• It was lending on rented properties long before the term ‘‘buy-to-let" was first heard.

Mike Lazenby, Kent Reliance chief executive, said: "As a building society our aim is to provide the best all-round mortgage service for our members, because creating benefits for them is what being a building society is all about."