UK Commercial Mortgage Lenders Compared 2026

Seventeen UK commercial mortgage lenders publish their criteria, and FD Commercial has verified every figure in this comparison against them, and no two of them agree on loan to value, debt service cover or the sectors they will lend on. Allica Bank will lend 80% of vacant possession value to an owner-occupier, Cynergy Bank stops at 55% on commercial investment, and Aldermore wants 165% debt service cover from a trading business where Shawbrook accepts 125%. This page puts every published figure side by side, taken from each lender's own intermediary criteria and product guides in September 2026, so you can see which lenders fit a case before anyone applies.

Figures verified against lender criteria in September 2026. We re-check this page after every Bank of England decision and whenever a lender on it changes its product guide.

Which UK commercial mortgage lenders offer the highest LTV?

Allica Bank publishes the highest standard commercial mortgage loan to value at 80% of vacant possession value for owner-occupiers, with a further 5% available to accountancy, veterinary, architecture, manufacturing and storage businesses. On commercial investment property the ceiling across the market is 75%, and the high street banks sit at 70% to 75%. Cynergy Bank is the outlier at 55% on investment, which is a private bank position rather than a commercial lending one.

Where the asset is being built rather than bought, the UK development finance lenders compared table shows which lenders fund pre-let commercial and mixed-use schemes and at what gearing.

This table assumes you know how commercial mortgages are underwritten; if DSCR, ICR and stress rates are new to you, read that guide first.

Where the purchase has to complete before a term lender can, our bridging lenders compared guide shows which bridging lenders write commercial property and at what loan to value.

The basis of the valuation matters as much as the percentage. Allica, Cambridge & Counties and Atom all quote against vacant possession value for owner-occupiers, which is usually below the trading value a business owner has in mind. Redwood quotes its 71.4% inclusive of the arrangement fee, so the cash advance is closer to 70%. InterBay lends 75% of market value but caps it at 85% of vacant possession. Read the footnote before you read the headline.

Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.

What we have noticed over the last two years is that the gap between the published maximum and the offered loan is widest on owner-occupier cases, because the vacant possession valuation on a building fitted out for one business is often 10% to 15% below what that business paid or would pay. A printer buying a unit with a mezzanine and three-phase power sees the value of that kit at zero on the surveyor's report. Plan the deposit on the vacant possession number, not the agent's number.

Where a commercial purchase has to complete before a term lender can, a commercial bridging loan buys the time: the same lenders compared here will often refinance the bridge once the property is let or trading.

What are the minimum and maximum loan sizes by lender?

Published minimum loans run from £25,001 at HSBC, NatWest and Barclays up to £500,000 at Aldermore and on the YBS owner-occupier range, and published maximums run from £2.5 million on Shawbrook's standard range to £35 million on its structured real estate desk. The high street banks put no upper limit on variable rate lending, and Shawbrook, Aldermore and InterBay all run a separate large loan team above their standard ceiling. FD Commercial arranges commercial mortgages from £250,000, so the minimum at every lender on this page is within reach.

Every year we see at least one trading business turned away by a lender for being too small, not too risky. A £400,000 loan against a £600,000 workshop is below Aldermore's floor and below YBS's owner-occupier floor, but sits comfortably at Allica, Shawbrook, Atom and Redwood. The lender list changes at £500,000 and again at £2.5 million, and a case that lands just under either line has more options than one that lands just over.

What DSCR or interest cover do commercial mortgage lenders require?

Most UK commercial mortgage lenders require debt service cover of 125% to 130%, meaning the rent or the adjusted EBITDA must exceed the loan payment by a quarter to a third, and the stress rate applied to that payment is where lenders genuinely differ. Five year fixed rates are tested at the pay rate almost everywhere. Variable rates and short fixes are stressed at the pay rate plus 1% at Shawbrook, Redwood and Together, plus 2% at Allica, and at margin plus 6.5% or margin plus Bank Rate plus 1% at Atom. Aldermore's 165% for owner-occupiers is the highest published figure on the page.

Ratios of 125% and 130% look close. They are not. On a £1.5 million loan at 7% over 20 years the annual payment is about £139,500, so 125% cover needs £174,400 of EBITDA and 130% needs £181,400. Then the stress rate moves the payment. The same loan tested at 9% needs a payment of £162,000 and 130% cover of £210,600. That is £36,000 a year more profit for the same building, which is why the ratio and the stress basis have to be read together.

Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.

Have your accountant produce the adjusted EBITDA workings, with the rent and interest add-backs shown line by line, before you approach a lender and not after the underwriter asks. Shawbrook, Redwood and Atom each publish the add-backs they accept, and an underwriter who receives the calculation in the lender's own format spends the afternoon checking it rather than the week rebuilding it. Our commercial mortgage DSCR guide walks through the calculation with a working calculator.

How do commercial mortgage lenders price: margin over Bank Rate or fixed?

Variable commercial mortgage rates are published as a margin over the Bank of England Bank Rate, from 2.25% at Assetz Capital and 2.30% at Allica for owner-occupiers to 3.24% at Aldermore and 3.89% at Redwood, while fixed rates are set off each lender's cost of funds with published five year fixes from 6.34% at Redwood and 6.50% at Allica. Shawbrook prices variable loans over its own Shawbrook Base Rate, which tracks Bank Rate but carries a 0.75% floor, and InterBay offers fixed rates only, reverting to Bank Rate plus 4.00% to 4.75% when the fix ends.

Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.

The headline rate is the least useful number on a commercial mortgage term sheet. Shawbrook's investment range shows why: the same loan carries a 7.79% five year fix with a 1% fee or a 6.99% fix with a 5% fee, and on £1 million over five years the 5% fee version costs about £4,000 less in total despite the £40,000 upfront. Together works the other way, with a 7% fee buying 0.85% off the rate. The commercial mortgage rates guide covers the fee-versus-rate trade in more depth, and the fee options are one of the reasons the cheapest lender on paper is rarely the cheapest lender over the term.

Which lenders offer interest-only commercial mortgages and on what terms?

Redwood Bank offers the longest published interest-only period on commercial property at up to 20 years, Shawbrook allows up to 12 years, Together 6 to 10 years, and most other lenders limit interest-only to five years before the loan must amortise. Owner-occupiers get the shortest allowance: YBS restricts them to a single interest-only year, Allica requires a 30 year capital and interest profile with five years interest-only at the start for loans up to 75% loan to value, and Aldermore cuts the maximum loan to value from 70% to 65% the moment interest-only is requested.

Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.

The distinction that catches borrowers is commitment term against amortisation profile. Atom, Recognise and Assetz Capital commit for five to ten years but calculate the payment as if the loan ran for 25, then expect a bullet repayment or a refinance at the end of the commitment. HSBC and NatWest commit for the full 25 or 30 years. A ten year commitment on a 25 year profile leaves a balance of roughly two thirds of the original loan to refinance at year ten, and whether that is a problem depends entirely on what the business and the market look like then.

Which lenders lend on which property sectors?

Offices, retail, industrial and semi-commercial property are written by every lender on this page, but hospitality, care and professional practices split the market: Shawbrook, Aldermore and YBS Commercial exclude pubs, hotels and care homes from their standard ranges, while Allica, Atom bank and Assetz Capital actively write them. Allica publishes the deepest sector appetite of any lender in the table, with hotels to 100% of vacant possession value on branded assets, care homes from 20 beds and children's nurseries from 40 places.

Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.

Two things stand out. First, the 100% loan to value professional practice mortgage that dentists, vets and GPs ask about is not on any published criteria sheet in the form it is usually described. Atom's 95% on dentists and pharmacists is the closest published route, applies to loans under £500,000 and requires a capital and interest repayment profile, and the 100% goodwill element sits alongside the property loan rather than replacing the deposit. Second, the lenders who exclude hospitality are not being cautious about the borrower. They are declining the asset, and no amount of trading history moves that.

Which lenders lend to trading businesses on EBITDA and which on rental income?

Allica, Shawbrook, Aldermore, Redwood, InterBay, Atom and YBS all underwrite owner-occupier commercial mortgages on the trading business's adjusted EBITDA, while every lender on the page underwrites investment property on the rent, and the two calculations produce different loan amounts for the same building. Rent is easier to underwrite. A lease is a fixed contractual sum with a named tenant, whereas EBITDA has to be rebuilt from the accounts with add-backs for the rent being replaced, the interest being refinanced, depreciation, amortisation and directors' drawings, and each lender publishes a slightly different recipe.

Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.

InterBay's double test is worth understanding because it explains a class of decline that surprises borrowers. The trading business has to cover the loan at 125% on EBITDA and the building has to cover it at 110% on the market rent a valuer assigns. A profitable business in a building that would rent for very little, such as a specialist workshop in a secondary location, can pass the first test and fail the second. Shawbrook takes the opposite position and bases the loan on trading alone, which is why the two lenders suit different owner-occupiers. Our owner-occupier commercial mortgage guide sets out how to present a trading case.

What moves the pricing on a commercial mortgage?

Five things move commercial mortgage pricing: the lender tier, the loan to value, the sector, the fee option and whether you bank with the lender. The tier sets the band. Within the band, loan to value is the largest single variable, and Allica, Shawbrook and InterBay all publish a step in rate at 65% loan to value, with Allica adding 0.35% to a five year fix and 0.35% to the variable margin once the loan crosses that line.

Sector pricing shows up in the published guides more clearly than borrowers expect. Allica prices semi-commercial owner-occupier at 1.80% over Bank Rate against 2.30% for pure commercial, and Aldermore prices semi-commercial at 2.64% over base against 3.24%. InterBay's semi-commercial five year fix is 6.79% against 7.79% on pure commercial investment. A building with flats above the shop is cheaper to finance than the shop alone, because the residential element is easier to sell if the lender ever has to.

Then there are the discounts. Allica takes 0.50% off for an owner-occupier who runs half its turnover through an Allica current account, 0.25% for an EPC of A to C or a loan above £750,000, and 0.25% for debt service cover above 200%. Redwood pays up to 0.50% cashback on EPC A to C. Barclays takes 0.30% off for EPC B or better. YBS takes 0.25% off industrial and light manufacturing. Stack Allica's three and a 2.30% margin becomes 1.30%, which is high street pricing from a challenger bank.

Borrower structure moves pricing less than people think, and adverse credit moves it more. Together loads its rate by 1% per demerit and will still lend with three in twelve months. Atom accepts one default over £500 in three years. Shawbrook and InterBay want a clean file for three years on CCJs and defaults. A borrower with a single satisfied default is not choosing between rates at that point, they are choosing between lenders, and the pricing difference between Together and Allica on that case is not 1%, it is closer to 4%.

What does a £1.5m owner-occupier industrial unit cost across the three lender tiers?

On a £1,500,000 commercial mortgage against a £2,150,000 industrial unit, the same loan costs around £134,000 a year from a high street bank, £148,000 from a challenger and £177,000 from a specialist lender, using the generalised bands of 2% to 3.5%, 3% to 5% and 5% to 8% over Bank Rate. The worked example below takes the middle of each band, a 20 year capital and interest profile and the arrangement fee each tier typically charges.

The example assumes Bank Rate stays at 3.75% for five years, which it will not. It also assumes the high street bank reaches £1.5 million against this valuation, and on a 70% ceiling it reaches £1,505,000, so the case passes with £5,000 to spare. Had the vacant possession valuation come in at £2,050,000 the high street loan would cap at £1,435,000 and the borrower would be finding £65,000 or moving to Allica at 80%. Run your own figures through the commercial mortgage calculator before you decide which tier you are aiming at.

High street, challenger or specialist: which lender tier fits your case?

The high street tier fits an established business with three years of clean accounts buying at 70% loan to value or less, the challenger tier fits everything from 70% to 80% loan to value or a business with two years of accounts, and the specialist tier fits adverse credit, short trading history or an asset the banks will not write. Around a third of the owner-occupier cases we place end up with a challenger bank because the high street bank could not reach the loan amount, not because it declined the borrower, and that is the single most common reason a business owner ends up paying 1.5% more than they expected.

The high street banks are HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds and Barclays. They price keenly, commit for the full term and rarely publish the criteria that decide the case. The challengers are Allica, Shawbrook, Aldermore, Cambridge & Counties, Redwood, Atom, YBS Commercial, Recognise and Cynergy. They publish their criteria in full, which is what makes this page possible, and they compete on loan to value, speed and sector appetite rather than on the headline margin. The specialists are InterBay, Together and, at the larger end, Assetz Capital, and they write cases on their merits with pricing to match.

A blunt observation from the desk. Business owners who bank with a high street lender assume that lender will do the property loan, and the relationship manager rarely says no at the first meeting, so the case sits for six weeks before it comes back short. Take the high street quote by all means, but take a challenger quote at the same time. If the bank comes good you have lost nothing. If it comes back at 65% loan to value with a request for a debenture, you have a completed alternative rather than a restart. Our commercial mortgage broker team runs the two in parallel as standard.

Larger cases move tier for a different reason. Above £3 million Aldermore hands the case to its commercial real estate team, above £2.5 million Shawbrook moves it to structured real estate with different pricing, and above £5 million Atom wants a conversation before the application. The published criteria on this page describe the standard ranges. For the mechanics of a £5 million or £10 million facility, the large commercial mortgages page covers what changes.

How do you choose the right commercial mortgage lender?

Choosing a commercial mortgage lender is a process of elimination against published criteria, and the six steps below remove most lenders from the list before any application is made. Done in this order, the shortlist at the end usually has two or three names on it, and those are the lenders to approach in parallel.

Placing the case is the second half of the job. As a fee-free commercial mortgage broker we take the table above and the borrower’s accounts to the two or three lenders whose criteria the case actually fits, rather than to the one with the lowest advertised rate.

1. Decide whether the case is owner-occupier or investment. The evidence differs. Owner-occupier is underwritten on adjusted EBITDA, investment on rent. Where the business occupies most of the building but sublets a floor, InterBay and Allica decide the product by predominant use, so settle the basis first and gather the matching accounts or tenancy schedule.
2. Fix the loan to value against vacant possession value. Most lenders lend against vacant possession rather than the price or the trading value. Work out where the case sits against 70%, 75% and 80% before shortlisting, because a loan at 76% of value has a different lender list from one at 74%.
3. Test the debt service cover on each lender's stress basis. Run the payment at the pay rate for a five year fix and at the pay rate plus 1% to 2% for a variable or short fix, then divide the adjusted EBITDA or the net rent by it. A case that passes 125% at Shawbrook can fail 165% at Aldermore on identical numbers.
4. Match the sector to lenders that write it. Shawbrook, Aldermore and YBS exclude pubs, hotels and care homes. Allica, Atom and Assetz Capital write them. Approaching a lender whose published security list excludes the asset costs weeks and produces a decline that has to be explained to the next lender.
5. Compare total cost over the committed term. Add the arrangement fee, the interest over the years you will genuinely hold the loan, any exit fee and the reversion rate when the fix ends. A 2% fee with a 6.5% rate beats a 1% fee with a 7.5% rate over five years on £1.5 million, and a reversion of Bank Rate plus 4.75% can undo the saving if you overrun.
6. Run two lenders in parallel through a broker. Take the two best fits to decision in principle at the same time. Competing written terms move pricing, and a parallel process protects the completion date if the first valuation comes in short. FD Commercial charges no broker fee on most commercial mortgage transactions.

Where the purchase has to complete before a term lender can, which on a 28 day auction contract or a landlord's notice period is common, a business bridging loan buys the property first and the commercial mortgage above refinances it. The exit lender should be chosen from this page before the bridge is taken, not after, because a bridge without a named term lender behind it is the most expensive way to discover that the building is unmortgageable.

How were these lender figures verified?

Every figure on this page was taken from the named lender's own intermediary criteria page or current product guide in September 2026, and where a lender does not publish a figure the table says so rather than estimating it. The Allica guide is dated 27 April 2026 with the 80% owner-occupier loan to value confirmed in June, the Shawbrook product guide 14 September 2026, the Aldermore guide 25 March 2026, the InterBay guide 9 September 2026 and the Together guide 5 August 2026. Cambridge & Counties, Redwood, Atom, YBS, Recognise, Cynergy, Assetz Capital and the four high street banks publish criteria on live web pages that were read on the day this guide was written.

Three lenders were considered and left out. Market Financial Solutions entered administration in February 2026 and is not writing new commercial term business. Paragon Bank's commercial lending arm publishes no term mortgage criteria for commercial property. Hodge publishes its 2026 criteria changes for residential lending only. Any figure you see quoted for those three on commercial term mortgages is either historic or somebody's guess.

The rule that shapes the tables is that a source older than 18 months is rejected even when it is the only one available. That rule cost us two rows. It also means that when a lender in the table changes its guide, the row is wrong until we update it, which is why the review date sits at the top of the page and why the figures should be confirmed against the lender before anyone relies on them for a specific case. Criteria is not a lending decision. The semi-commercial mortgages page applies the same approach to mixed-use property, where the residential split changes both the lender list and the price.

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