In an interest-raising rate environment, starting your property financing process as early as possible is always beneficial. However, it will be especially important to do so if you have unusual revenue streams, income or a complex background, which can make accessing finance more challenging.
In this case, a self-employed couple who owned a successful restaurant business in London approached us. Even though the couple were both UK residents and nationals, they used to hold Chinese nationality, which ruled out working with a number of potential lenders who couldn't consider the couple on this basis.
Despite the success of their business, the couple's self-employed status also created roadblocks, as lenders considered they had an unconventional income structure which added another layer of risk.
To arrange finance for the couple, we approached a specialist lender and carefully laid out the couple's situation, both explaining and proving to the underwriters that the clients no longer had an association with China. The deposit required was £630,000, although the couple only had £393,000 available to put down. To cover the gap, we raised the remaining £237,000 through the couple's buy-to-let investment portfolio, securing a 75% LTV with a fixed rate of 3.74%.