Insights

Notes on how lending decisions actually get made.

Written for landlords, business owners and anyone about to sign for two decades of borrowing.

Buy to let

Limited company or personal name: the question behind the question

6 min read Tax is only half of it. The other half is what each route does to your borrowing capacity over the next ten years — and that is the half most landlords find out too late.

Bridging

What underwriters actually look for in an exit plan

4 min read Every bridging application says the exit is a refinance. The ones that get agreed say which lender, at what LTV, on what evidence, and by what date.

Protection

Cover, trusts and wills: tidying the paperwork behind a portfolio

5 min read Three small pieces of admin decide whether your family inherits an asset or a liability. None of them takes more than an afternoon.

Commercial

Semi-commercial: the cases high street lenders keep declining

6 min read A flat over a shop is one title, two asset classes and half a dozen lenders who will not look at it. Here is who does, and what they want to see.

Remortgages

Six months out: when a rate review should really start

3 min read Offers can usually be held for up to six months. Starting early is free insurance against a rate rise, and costs you nothing if rates fall instead.

Buy to let

The portfolio schedule that gets a yes

4 min read Once you pass four properties, lenders test the whole portfolio. How the schedule is presented changes the answer more often than the numbers in it.