Somerset Commercial Mortgage

The situation

In early 2024, a local business owner in Taunton identified a well-located office building in the town centre as the right base to consolidate his operations from multiple sites. The property was priced at £1,000,000 and offered the space, parking, and central location the business needed. The client wanted to purchase at 80% LTV, retaining cash for the office fit-out and working capital rather than committing more equity to the purchase.

The challenge was straightforward: most lenders cap owner-occupier commercial mortgages at 65–70% LTV. At 80%, the deal required a specialist lender with both the appetite and the local market knowledge to make it work.

The challenge

High street commercial lenders are generally comfortable with owner-occupier mortgages to 65%, and some will stretch to 70% for strong cases. Getting to 80% requires a lender who is willing to take a more granular view of the business and the property. The additional LTV needs to be justified by the quality of the trading accounts, the strength of the security, and a lender's confidence in the specific market.

There was also a timing dimension. The client wanted to avoid losing the property to another buyer. The application needed to move quickly, valuation, offer, and legal work all compressed into a short window to meet the client's completion timeline.

How we structured it

We reviewed the client's business accounts, cash flow projections, and the property particulars including its EPC rating. We then identified specialist commercial lenders with specific experience in owner-occupier office lending in the South West and with current appetite for 80% LTV cases where business fundamentals were strong.

The application was built to answer the lender's likely questions directly: three years of accounts demonstrating profitability, current management figures, a clear explanation of the consolidation rationale, and market context for Taunton office demand. The lender's underwriting also involved an independent valuation assessing both the open market value and the rental yield potential of the building.

We worked closely with the lender to expedite the underwriting timeline. A good broker knows which lender is right for a given deal and approaches them with the right case from the start. Spreading an application across multiple lenders simultaneously, without targeting the right one, slows things down rather than speeding them up.