EXCLUSIVE
I S S U E 47 S E P T/O C T 2 0 26
+ Aria Finance launches a new business- p32
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Bridging & Commercial
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EXCLUSIVE
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I s s ue 4 6 Ju ly/Au g 2 0 26
A newly constructed bridging offer to help brokers go further UTB's new Near Prime Bridging range bridges the gap between standard and specialist lending, providing greater exibility for borrowers with past credit blips and giving brokers more opportunities to place their trickier cases with condence. www.utbank.co.uk/intermediaries
Asset Finance | Mortgages, Buy to Let & Bridging | Real Estate Finance | Savings & Deposits 1
Sept/Oct 2026
Acknowledgments Editor-in-chief Beth Fisher
Magazine editor Charlotte Ryan
Creative direction Beth Fisher Charlotte Ryan
Sub editor
Christy Lawrance
Contributors
Nick Baker, Duncan Kreeger, Lucy Waters, Joe Aston, Anna Thompson, Gurvinder Sall, Narinder Hayer, Paul Cain, Michael Stratton, Hinesh Varsani, Hiten Ganatra, Ben Allen, Mark Harris, Abby Alexander, Russell Anderson
Photography Connie Burke
Sales and marketing Beth Fisher beth@medianett.co.uk Ellen Townsend ellen@medianett.co.uk
Special thanks
Cover story respondents Contributors to The Cut Niamh Carolan, Karina Erton, Alice Suffield SQ1 Team
Printing Jam Print
Design and image editing BePro
Bridging & Commercial Magazine is published by Medianett Publishing Ltd
Managing director
Beth Fisher beth@medianett.co.uk 0203 818 0160 Follow us: LinkedIn @Medianett Publishing | Instagram @medianettpublishing
To read about our commitment to the environment and sustainable print publishing, please visit https://bridgingandcommercial.co.uk/page_magazine. Bridging & Commercial
2
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t’s my first edition as editor and what a way to begin. As we look back on the market turmoil that we’ve seen over the past few years, it’s clear that things are changing in the specialist finance market. Following the collapse of two high-profile lenders, calls for regulation are growing louder, and brokers are navigating a landscape defined by tighter criteria and extended completion times. With so many changes afoot, this edition is all about giving brokers a voice. In our cover story [p76], we hear how they’re coping with all the upheaval in the market—and what they’d like to see happen next. Brokers talk about the pullback in risk appetite since the collapse of MFS and Century, the constant political turmoil making their lives harder, and how they are using their networks to vet lenders behind the scenes. We also unpack the regulatory debate and hear why increased oversight might not be a silver bullet for the specialist finance industry. Lastly, brokers share what they would tell lenders if they could get them all together in one room—and their answers may surprise you. Elsewhere, Belleveue Mortlakes runs through the red flags to look out for when doing deals [p68], Together explains why so-called unmortgageables could represent a significant opportunity [p44] and Lansdowne Law runs through the risks and benefits of dual representation [p88]. We hear from Landmark broker Gurvinder Sall on the perennial debate for brokers: is it better to work for a firm or go it alone? [p102]. He made the move from one-man band to part of a team and talks about the benefits and downsides of both. MS Lending Group CEO Michael Stratton highlights the need for brokers and lenders to think of each other as partners, and to work together to drive faster completions [p92]. The lender may have the capital but brokers have the client knowledge—and both are equally essential. Pallas Capital originator Anna Thompson, who has spent 11 years working on both sides of the lending table, gets the lowdown from advisers on everything from how they assess lenders to how they plan to win new business over the next year [p62]. Despite all the challenges in the market, people are still making big strategic bets. Mint managing director Irene Thomas discusses her first six months in the role and how she wants to grow the business [p54]. She tells us what motivates her and how Mint has managed this year’s volatility. Elsewhere, Aria Finance grants us exclusive details on its new business [p32]. Clarendon Private Finance will launch in London this October, and is aimed at high-net-worth and private clients who may have traditionally looked to private banks for their property finance needs. All of these stories paint the picture of a market in flux, adapting to tighter risk, shifting relationships, and bold new commercial strategies. Whether you’re looking to adapt your strategy or simply make sense of where the market is headed, I hope this edition gives you plenty to think about. Enjoy the read.
Charlotte Ryan
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10 22 32 44 54 68 76 88 “It just feels like, until you get that email from the lender, something can go wrong at any point” -p76
112 116 124
The Cut News
Why flats are getting harder to sell
TAB’S new funding line makes it more resilient/Allica Bank raises awareness of men’s mental health
Exclusive Feature
Aria Finance launches a business aimed at high-net-worth clients
Together talks unmortgageable assets
Interview
Irene Thomas on what she’s achieved in six months at Mint/Pallas Capital hears from specialist brokers
Explained
Belleveue Mortlakes explains the red flags to look for before closing a deal
Cover Story Opinion
Handing brokers the mic
The risks and benefits of dual representation/ How brokers fit/Landmark talks teamwork
On the rise Limelight Backstory
Abby Alexander
Octane summer party, Colenko goes golfing and the football match of the season
Russell Anderson
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THE CUT
The Cut
Flat broke? With a recent Guardian article proclaiming the market for flats in England ‘dead’, we hear from brokers about what is really affecting values and sales
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Sept/Oct 2026
The Cut
Hiten Ganatra
Managing director at Visionary Finance The flat market is not dead but is becoming increasingly split in two. Well-managed flats with long leases, sensible service charges and no outstanding building safety or cladding issues are still selling. Where the market is slowing is on properties with questions around such issues, because buyers and lenders are, understandably, more cautious. There is a strong value argument in favour of flats. The price gap between houses and flats is the widest it has been for around 30 years, with house prices up by roughly 43% since 2016 compared with just 10% for flats—flats now offer some of the best relative value we have seen in a generation. In London and the South East in particular, they remain a main route into homeownership. The market is not disappearing but becoming more selective, and flats that are straightforward to own, finance and sell are likely to stand out even more.
Ben Allen
Business development manager at E18 Specialist Property Finance I wouldn’t describe the whole market as dead, but there is definitely more resistance, particularly where a flat has something that makes a buyer think twice. Service charges are a big one. Buyers aren’t looking only at the mortgage payment; they’re looking at the total monthly cost of owning. A flat might appear affordable based on the purchase price but, once you add a substantial service charge, ground rent and other costs, the proposition can look very different. There is a significant difference between a good and a difficult flat. A well-located property with a sensible service charge, a long lease and no major building issues can be perfectly marketable. It’s those with one or more complications where transactions become much harder.
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The Cut
IS THE FLAT MARKET DEAD? Mark Harris
Chief executive at SPF Private Clients First-time buyers still account for the bulk of activity but with prices, particularly of flats, falling in some areas, the urgency to buy is not there. Rates higher than forecast at the start of the year are a further deterrent. Demand for one- and two-bed flats has fallen whereas demand for three- or even four-bed houses by first-time buyers has grown. The cost of buying is so high that first-time buyers are increasingly avoiding the traditional starter home or flat and jumping up the ladder to remove the need to move every few years. Cladding and leasehold issues are making flats less attractive. Smaller flats were often bought by landlords but regulatory changes mean many are selling up, and that usually reliable market for flats is not what it was.
Lucy Waters
Managing director at Aria Finance Flats tend to come to market in much greater numbers than houses, so there is more stock competing for buyers. Affordability is an issue for first-time buyers, who are an important part of the flat market. Higher interest rates have reduced borrowing capacity, while the removal of help to buy has taken away another source of support. Buyers are also looking much more closely at service charges, lease lengths and potential major works. At the same time, we’re seeing fewer new-build flats coming through, partly because slower sales and increased building safety requirements have made development more challenging. I think this is a cycle that will correct over time. The market is adjusting rather than flats becoming permanently undesirable.
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The Cut
ARE LENDERS DOWNVALUING FLATS OR TIGHTENING CRITERIA?
Hiten Ganatra
Managing director at Visionary Finance Downvaluations and tighter lending criteria are common issues, particularly where values have been weak or there are concerns about the building. For borrowers coming to remortgage, slower price growth can mean they have built up much less equity than expected. That can push them into a higher LTV band, which may reduce the number of options available or increase rates. Service charges are becoming a bigger part of assessments. Some lenders will decline applications where these exceed 1% of the property value—a level that close to 40% of flats are now estimated to breach. Lender appetite varies significantly. The same flat can be declined by one and accepted by another, even where the borrower’s circumstances are identical.
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The Cut
Ben Allen
Business development manager at E18 Specialist Property Finance Valuers are looking at the individual flat, the block and comparable evidence. A high service charge, a short lease, unusual construction, cladding concerns or issues with the block can all affect valuation and lender appetite. We regularly explain that the estate agents’ and the lenders’ valuations serve different purposes. A lender is considering what happens if a flat needs to be sold. A property might be advertised at £400,000 but that doesn’t mean a lender will lend against that. In specialist finance, lender criteria can vary enormously. Something one lender won’t consider at all may be acceptable to another with the right structure.
Lucy Waters
Managing director at Aria Finance I wouldn’t say lenders are universally downvaluing flats, but they are scrutinising them. It’s important to understand the financing options available early on. From our perspective, it’s about finding the lender whose criteria and appetite fit the individual property, rather than assuming that all lenders will take the same view.
Mark Harris
Chief executive at SPF Private Clients There is a tendency to build and oversupply flats relative to demand. Lenders are concerned about rising service charges and ground rent. Some lenders are not happy when these exceed a proportion of the property value or with the frequency and cadence of review.
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The Cut
Hiten Ganatra
Managing director at Visionary Finance A surprising number of flats described as unmortgageable are cases where the lender has not been given enough evidence. Lease terms, service charge accounts, planned major works and building safety documents should all be checked early as this can open up more lender options. For short leases, bridging finance can provide a route. A buyer may be able to use a bridge to complete the purchase, extend the lease then refinance onto a mainstream mortgage. Some lenders will accept service charge levels that others will not. It is also sensible to leave some LTV headroom so the case is less exposed if the valuation comes in lower than expected.
Ben Allen
Business development manager at E18 Specialist Property Finance The first thing is to understand what is preventing the transaction from working. With a short lease, the answer might not be finding a more flexible lender. We need to understand the remaining term, the cost and process of extending it and the property’s value afterwards. Where a client intends to sell but the market isn’t giving them the price they want, refinancing can be an option. Moving from bridging onto a BTL mortgage can give the borrower more time rather than having to accept a significant reduction. We’re seeing clients who are reconsidering their exit strategies for exactly this reason. The important thing is to start looking at alternatives early. If a bridge has three months remaining, there are normally far more options than when there is a week before expiry.
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The Cut
WHAT OPTIONS DO YOU PRESENT TO CLIENTS WHO WANT TO SELL OR BUY A FLAT WITH A SHORT LEASE OR HIGH SERVICE CHARGES? Mark Harris
Chief executive at SPF Private Clients When it comes to lender attitudes to high service charges, there is no hard and fast rule, which is why it is important that borrowers use a broker. If a borrower has a relatively low loan-to-value, this may help on the affordability issue as they will be borrowing less so will have more disposable income to cover the cost of the service charge.
Lucy Waters
Managing director at Aria Finance With a short lease, we would look at the remaining term, the cost of extension and whether specialist finance would allow time to do this or provide a route to purchase. With high service charges, we need to understand what they cover and whether any additional costs or major works are expected. Refinancing can provide time to resolve an issue and prevent a distressed sale. For a buyer, a short lease or other issues can sometimes present an opportunity if the numbers stack up and there is a clear exit strategy. The key is to look beyond the headline issue and understand the property, the finance available and what the client is ultimately trying to achieve. The approach now needs to be more tailored.
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If a flat has a short lease, buyers should consider extending it at the same time as they purchase the property, taking out the mortgage on its full value with the longer lease included. However, the buyer needs to check with the freeholder that this will be possible. The same goes for selling; if you can sell on the basis that the buyer will be able to extend the lease, that should make the flat more attractive to potential purchasers. It feels as though there are more issues to consider than ever, and it is making buying a flat harder for those who require a mortgage to do so. However, it’s not a complete no-no necessarily, as long as the borrower seeks advice and goes into any flat purchase armed with the facts and with their eyes open.
Sept/Oct 2026
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STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Having multiple funders means not only more capital but also more choice and better pricing for brokers. It protects against wobbly markets too—and brings some welcome, third-party scrutiny to your operation
When a specialist lender announces a new funding line, the natural reaction is to look at the size of the facility.
Brokers do not need lenders to say yes to everything (well, in an ideal world...). They need lenders that know what they want to lend against, understand their risk and have enough flexibility to make sensible decisions when a case sits outside the standard box. Funding diversity supports that. In short, it makes lenders more reliable.
Two hundred million pounds is a big figure. At TAB, we now have three active funding sources. Our new £200m facility with GB Bank sits alongside our institutional facility with AB CarVal and funding from private investors. The new facility does not replace either of the existing sources. It adds to them.
Words by
On the one hand, this gives us yet more capital to deploy and, ultimately, more capacity to lend, more capacity to write commercial mortgages business and more capacity to do bridging deals. On the other hand, there’s more to it than just… scale. Because how a lender’s funding is structured can have a huge bearing on brokers.
DUNCAN KREEGER
TAB founder and CEO
For a specialist lender, relying on a single warehouse or funding partner can leave you not just with too little capital—but also without the right capital for the deal in front of you. Specialist property finance is not a uniform market. A £300,000 bridge, a £2m commercial mortgage and a £5m portfolio refinance can all require different approaches to risk, pricing or leverage. The more varied the lending book becomes, the more useful it is to have funding partners with different characteristics. If a lender has one source of funding, its flexibility is limited. The funder’s appetite, concentration limits, eligibility criteria and view of risk can all influence what the lender can offer. With multiple funding sources, the lender has more room to manage those variables. That does not mean every deal suddenly becomes fundable. But it does mean the lender has more ways of funding the deals that fit its overall risk appetite.
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Confidence for completion More sources of funding also make lenders more resilient. Funding conditions change. Interest rates change. Investor appetites change. The cost and availability of capital changes. A lender with one funding source is more exposed than one with several funding relationships. You want confidence that a lender will still have the appetite and capacity to complete the deal when it gets to the other end of the process. We look to write commercial mortgages at bridging speed. But it doesn’t always work out that way. Things can change between enquiry and completion. You want confidence that the lender can continue lending when the market changes and different asset types become appealing. Multiple funding lines also reduce the chance of terms being repriced midway through a transaction, when brokers can least afford it.
More sources of funding make lenders more resilient”
There’s one thing that might escape brokers giving the news of a deal like this a cursory glance. Getting a new funding partner is a useful discipline for a lender. Each relationship brings scrutiny. Institutional funders want to understand the quality of the book, the underwriting, the technology and the controls around the lending. Not only is that good for lenders—it forces us to keep getting better—but also it reassures other funders. Pricing There is a subtler, final benefit, too. A lender that depends on a single funding source is, in effect, a price-taker. If that funder’s cost of capital rises or its risk appetite tightens, there is little room to negotiate. Those costs tend to find their way through to brokers and borrowers. Multiple funding relationships change that dynamic. A bank facility, an institutional credit line and private investor capital each carry a different cost of capital and a different view of risk. Blending them lets a lender match the right funding to the right deal, rather than pricing every loan off whichever facility happens to be available that week. Over time, that discipline should show up as more stable, more competitive pricing—not just more capacity. Ultimately, I do not think the future of specialist lending belongs to lenders with one enormous pot of money. I think it belongs to lenders with several strong funding relationships and the infrastructure to deploy that capital intelligently. For brokers, that should mean more than a bigger number on a press release. It should mean a lender with more options, greater resilience and more capacity to say yes to good business. And that is the point of our new £200m facility.
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Sept/Oct 2026
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why make finance difficult
I
More awareness needs to be raised around men’s mental health, and a 100-mile challenge across desert, mountain, road and moor for the ANDYSMANCLUB charity aimed to do just that. This article includes discussions about mental health and suicide
first heard about ANDYSMANCLUB in 2022. I was driving back from the airport after a holiday with my wife and daughter, and the charity was on Radio X. The station’s Make Some Noise campaign had given them a £50,000 grant, which caught my interest. I heard Luke Ambler, one of the founders, talk about ANDYSMANCLUB and their mission. I was pretty obsessed with it from that point on. I dealt with some significant mental health issues between 2022 and 2024, so the topic was at the front of my mind. ANDYSMANCLUB seemed like a really clever way of getting chaps talking, so I wanted to find out more about it. The charity is named after Andrew Roberts, who sadly took his own life aged 23 in early 2016. Elaine Roberts and Luke Ambler, Andy’s mum and brother-in-law, want to stop other families from going through what they did. They founded ANDYSMANCLUB, a group where men aged 18 and above can speak openly about their mental health. They run Monday-night talking groups where men can share stories and experiences in a safe space without judgement. They’re aiming to get a meeting within 30 minutes of every man in the UK. The charity
Words by
NICK BAKER
Chief commercial officer at Allica Bank
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NEWS
also focuses on building awareness of mental health, suicide and their support services. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 54. This isn’t just a number to me. After experiencing my own mental health struggles, I realised how lucky I was to have family support and access to good healthcare. That imbalance didn’t sit right with me so I decided to get involved with the charity myself. After I suggested this, ANDYSMANCLUB became Allica Bank’s charity for the year in 2024. I got talking to the founders and was delighted to be offered a role as a board trustee. The mission is great because, if we do our job right, the charity won’t need to exist.
would grab some industry attention and raise awareness. I’m a very average 42-year-old guy, a weekend gym warrior at best, giving it a good go. My most popular LinkedIn post about the challenges was a picture at the airport when I was flying out to Morocco, fuelling with water and a Guinness. These challenges are the sort of thing that people always think about doing; I just went and did it. Ultimately, I wanted to start important conversations with industry colleagues and friends outside work, spreading awareness of ANDYSMANCLUB as far as possible and raising some money too.
Damp, horrible and attention grabbing Spreading the word about our services and getting people talking about men’s mental health are key parts of what we do. That’s why I decided to take on my Man vs Miles challenge. I wanted to find a way of keeping up the conversation about ANDYSMANCLUB over a longer period, so I thought about which activities would be difficult but reasonably doable, and got cracking. I decided to complete four endurance challenges over six months, with a total of 100 miles across desert, mountain, moor and road, sharing my experience on LinkedIn as I went. In March, I did a five-day, 100km hike across the Sahara Desert, which I hope gave people the idea of scale. Then came Man vs Moor in June. That was big, damp and horrible. So was I at the end of it. I climbed Ben Nevis at night in July, which was all about ploughing forward in the dark. The challenges weren’t always pretty, but then life isn’t either. This September, I’ll finish off with a half marathon in my home town, Ipswich. This might be considered the smallest challenge but it’s the most important one to me. I’m running it with my wife, who supported me during my own tough times and who is the strongest person I know. The plan is that I come home. The challenges are relatable as that’s what I hoped
Tough times for men The agenda for men and boys in this country isn’t in a good place. Men make up 96% of the prison population, account for around 81% of those sleeping rough and three out of four deaths by suicide in the UK are male. People’s ears and eyes are opening to the problem and that’s why these conversations have happened. While you might think hiking across the Sahara would be the toughest challenge physically, missing my wife and daughter was the hardest part. Being away for that long without the support of my family was really difficult. Then, when I returned to the hotel in Morocco before my journey home, I got a call that a much-loved colleague had died by suicide. It was a painful reminder of why I was out there and why we’re doing what we’re doing. During the campaign, through a friend of mine, I have also got to know a young man who sadly lost his best friend to suicide this year. We hope to work with him and some people I know to see how ANDYSMANCLUB might support younger men in particular. Unfortunately, much like this new connection, there are constant reminders of why ANDYSMANCLUB exists. Talking is only part of it. Up to 91% of
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NEWS
middle-aged men who go on to take their own life have actually spoken about their challenges to a healthcare professional so it’s not just about talking. That’s why at ANDYSMANCLUB we have a phrase, “can’t stop, won’t stop”, and we’re just not going to stop. Ploughing On While climbing Ben Nevis, the idea was to be out in front, on my own and ploughing on. (I had a fabulous guide with me who walked behind me just in case.) We started at 1am, so the hardest part of that was just the tiredness. Running, scrambling, swimming, and tunnelling across Exmoor taught me I should have gone for the swimming badge at school. At the end, you go through a tunnel—I hate enclosed spaces so that was horrendous—then swim across an open expanse of water. I’m a bad swimmer but gave it a good go. It’s safe to say my body’s taken some wear and tear over the past six months. There’s a lot of Voltarol knocking around our house. And it’s been so worth it.
about building awareness of ANDYSMANCLUB to help support other men. The money raised will buy a lot of biscuits and tea to fuel discussions at the meetings but it’s finite. The conversations the challenge has started, I hope, will have a lifelong impact. I think I’ll miss doing Man vs Miles, but I’ve got bigger plans to raise awareness of ANDYSMANCLUB next year. I can’t say too much, but we’ll take promoting the charity and creating impact to the next level, so keep an eye out and keep the conversation going. Can’t stop, won’t stop.
“The challenges weren’t always pretty, but then life isn’t either”
Words and wristbands If you open your ears to the different conversations you can have, you can have a real impact. I met a guy on the Sahara challenge called Jez, who is a retired city banker. He hadn’t heard of ANDYSMANCLUB until we met in the desert but has just set up a group in the Cotswolds. He’s a volunteer facilitator, which is incredible. I have industry colleagues and their sons who have gone to ANDYSMANCLUB on a Monday evening because of the awareness built through Man vs Miles. I’ve spoken to people in service stations who have seen my ANDYSMANCLUB wristband and asked about it. The awareness has been real, the response has been open. I think, in this industry, the visibility of seeing someone say they’ve struggled too is so important. At the end of September, I’ll take on my last challenge: the Ipswich half marathon. I’m not a runner but I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be back where it all started, with my wife Hannah who supported me when I was having my own mental health difficulties. The hardest miles have been made possible with her support so it will be really meaningful to cross the finish line together with her. Although I was the face of it, Man vs Miles was ultimately
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Readers of Bridging & Commercial can donate to Nick’s cause at www.justgiving. com/page/nick-baker-1. If you or someone you know has been impacted by the issues in this article, support is available from the Samaritans on 116 123.
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EXCLUSIVE
From left to right, Joe Aston, Lucy Waters and Sam Gillmore
Clients with high net worth often have complex requirements, underpinned by longer-term aims—and usually head for private banks. Aria Finance’s new business aims to attract them, offering more choice through specialist finance
Words by
LUCY WATERS
Managing director and founder
JOE ASTON Sales and commercial director
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EXCLUSIVE
High-net-worth clients are increasingly looking beyond traditional private banking when it comes to property finance. Their requirements can extend well beyond a single property transaction, with investment strategies, business interests and wider financial plans often influencing the type of funding they need. For these clients, the starting point is not necessarily identifying a mortgage product but understanding what they are trying to achieve and how property finance can help them get there.
One part of the picture
The private client market is becoming increasingly diverse. While many high-net-worth individuals continue to use private banks for their wider financial affairs, there is a growing opportunity for specialist property finance advice that offers greater choice and a broader view of the funding market. A client may be looking to buy a home, release equity from a property, fund an investment opportunity, restructure borrowing or support a wider property portfolio. In many cases, the property transaction is one part of a much larger financial picture. The challenge is that there is rarely one obvious funding route. A client’s circumstances, existing assets and wider financial plans can all influence how a transaction should be structured, making access to a broader range of finance options particularly valuable. For high-net-worth borrowers, the assumption that they simply need a larger version of a conventional mortgage can miss the wider opportunity. The starting point is often an objective rather than a product. A client may know what they want to achieve but not understand the most appropriate route, whether this is a residential mortgage, a BTL facility, a second
The assumption that high-net-worth borrowers simply need a larger version of a conventional mortgage can miss the wider opportunity”
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charge, bridging finance or another form of specialist funding. This is where specialist advice can add value. Rather than matching a client with a particular product, the adviser can look across the options and build the funding strategy around the requirement. Lucy Waters, managing director of Aria Finance, believes this is central to the way clients should be approached. “Clients don’t necessarily come to us knowing that they need a particular mortgage product. They come to us with a requirement, an opportunity or sometimes a problem that they need to solve,” she explains. “Our role is to understand what they are trying to achieve and then look at the different funding options available to find the right solution.”
Beyond the private banks
It is against this backdrop that Clarendon Private Finance is being launched in London this October. The new brokerage is focused specifically on high-net-worth and private clients, including those who have traditionally looked to private banks for their property finance but may benefit from access to a wider range of specialist funding options. The proposition combines a relationship-led approach with specialist property finance expertise, giving clients a single point of contact to help navigate what can otherwise be a fragmented market. That relationship-led approach will be strengthened by the appointment of Sam Gillmore as head of private clients. Sam joins Clarendon following a 15-year career in private banking, bringing extensive experience of working with high-net-worth clients and understanding the expectations that come with that relationship. “I’m really excited to be joining Clarendon Private Finance at such an important stage in its development,” says Sam. “I’ve spent the last 15 years working in private banking, so I’m very familiar with the expectations and requirements of this client base. “The opportunity to bring that experience into a specialist property finance business is particularly exciting. There is a real opportunity
EXCLUSIVE
to combine the relationship-led approach of private banking with the breadth and flexibility of specialist property finance. “I’m looking forward to getting stuck in, building relationships and working closely with clients to understand what they are trying to achieve, rather than simply looking at the mortgage they need today.”
Why a new business?
Clarendon is a separate operation with a specific focus on this client group; it does not signify a change in direction for the wider Aria Finance business. Joe Aston, sales and commercial director at Aria Finance, says the move is about creating a more targeted offering for a group of clients who have traditionally been well served by private banking but may not always have considered specialist property finance as an alternative. “We already work with high-net-worth and private clients so this isn’t about moving into a market that is completely new to us,” he says. “It is about recognising that there is an
Clients need someone to understand what they are trying to achieve and then find the best way to get them there” underserved group of clients who have traditionally relied on private banking for their property finance, and creating a business specifically focused on helping them navigate the wider funding market. “Clarendon gives us the opportunity to take what we already do well and build a more targeted proposition around this particular client base.”
Requirements first
For Clarendon, the proposition is ultimately less about the size or type of mortgage and more about understanding the individual behind the transaction. That could mean helping a client structure funding for a property purchase alongside
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an existing portfolio, finding a way to release capital without disrupting other investments or identifying an alternative source of finance when a traditional route does not fit. The emphasis is on understanding the requirement first and then considering the options available. For clients already accustomed to the relationship-led service of private banking, this provides a different route into property finance, one where specialist knowledge and access to a broader funding market sit alongside a highly personal service.
Standing by itself
While Clarendon is built on established specialist property finance knowledge, the intention is for the new business to develop its own identity and proposition within the private client market. Lucy says the thinking behind it is straightforward. “Clarendon is something new. We have taken the experience and knowledge that sits behind Aria and used that as a foundation but the opportunity is to build a business specifically for private clients. “We know that clients don’t always need to be told what product they should have. They need someone to understand what they are trying to achieve and then find the best way to get them there. “That is the thinking behind Clarendon Private Finance.” Clarendon is entering a market where clients are increasingly looking for more than access to finance. They want someone who understands what they are trying to achieve, can see the wider picture and has the expertise and market access to find the right way forward. That means putting the client and their overall objectives first, then finding the finance to match. It is a simple principle, but one that Clarendon believes could make a meaningful difference for private clients looking for a more personal and flexible approach to property finance.
Sept/Oct 2026
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ADVERTORIAL
Bridging’s versatility in times of uncertainty highlighted Released by MT Finance, Bridging Trends highlights the trends shaping the UK bridging finance market. Raphael Benggio, director of bridging at specialist lender MT Finance, explains the Q2 2026 data
RAPHAEL BENGGIO Director of Bridging at MT Finance
Transaction value down but speed up
Gross contributor lending came in at £173.1 m in Q2, a 15% drop on Q1’s £199.2m. This wasn’t a surprise, as borrowers who were not in urgent need of funds seemingly put the brakes on transactions. Those who did need to move quickly though used bridging to access funds fast. In fact, preventing a chain break and purchasing an investment property were the two most popular uses of bridging finance in Q2, both accounting for 18% of transactions. This focus on speed is likely why the average completion time fell from 53 days in Q2 to 46 in Q1, as well as all parties working closely together. Demand for regulated bridging rose from 41% in Q1 to 48% in Q2. I would say this could be attributed to borrowers looking for solutions after high street lenders pulled products and hiked rates in the wake of the Iran war.
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A savvy approach to leveraging equity
Collaboration is key
What really stood out to me about Q2 is how borrowers utilised bridging loans. With the conflict rumbling on, some appear to have resigned themselves to the fact that we are going to be in a period of economic uncertainty for the foreseeable future. Instead of pausing projects indefinitely, they are looking at other ways to fund them. This is likely why the proportion of second charge bridging loans more than doubled, from 9% in Q1 to 22% in Q2, as they provide equity without disturbing an existing mortgage.
What this data highlights is the importance of educating borrowers about bridging’s flexibility. Previously seen as a ‘last-resort’, a huge amount of groundwork has been done – particularly by brokers – to show just how versatile it is. And I’d argue that we’ve seen the results of that in Q2’s data. Yes, bridging will always be associated with preventing chain breaks, but more borrowers are becoming aware of its other functions. Funding auction purchases is a great example of this. In fact, the percentage of auction-related bridges rose from 11% in Q1 to 14% in Q2 as both landlords and homeowners capitalised on opportunities. The jump in second charges also shows an increased awareness of the different types of bridging loans. This wouldn’t be possible without collaboration between brokers and lenders, something we place a lot of importance on here at MT Finance.
A common-sense approach from MT Finance
While we can’t predict what will happen in the rest of 2026, I think it’s safe to say a degree of uncertainty will remain. Therefore, it’s vital that lenders take a pragmatic and solution-first approach to each case. At MT Finance we have been doing exactly that since we launched back in 2008. Offering regulated and unregulated bridging loans (alongside buy-to-let and commercial mortgages) we are always on-hand to support you and your clients. Facing a tight deadline? Lending decisions are often made within hours of an inquiry and cases can be completed in only a few days. We also offer AVMs on qualifying properties at up to 65% LTV. Let down by a previous lender? We’ll take a look and see if we can make it work. Got a case that doesn’t quite fit the criteria? We’ll assess the application on its individual merits before giving a final answer. Each broker also has a dedicated regional BDM and direct access to decisionmakers.
Bridges long associated with equity release, such as funding a business injection and a heavy refurb, both increased in popularity (rising from 4% in Q1 to 9% in Q2 and 6% in Q1 to 10% in Q2 respectively) while regulated refinance dropped from 14% in Q1 to 9% in Q2 and unregulated refinance fell from 11% in Q1 to 6% in Q2. Borrowers are ensuring they’re not encumbering themselves with unmanageable debt and this is reflected in the fact that the average loan-to-value (LTV) only rose from 52% in Q1 to 55% in Q2. That the average monthly interest rate fell marginally from 0.82% in Q1 to 0.81% also suggests that borrowers are not taking on high-risk loans.
If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you and your borrowers then we’d love to hear from you. Simply email your bridging queries to enquiries@mt-finance.com or call us on 020 3051 2331. My colleagues will be happy to assist you. Bridging Trends is produced by MT Finance and groups together the figures from specialist finance brokers within the UK bridging market: Adapt, Brightstar Financial, Brilliant Solutions, Capital B, Clever Lending, Clifton Private Finance, Complete FS, Enness, Impact Specialist Finance, LDN Finance, Optimum Elite and Sirius. The data for top broker criteria searches is supplied by Knowledge Bank.
The average term remained static at 12 months. According to Knowledge Bank, the search terms made by UK bridging finance brokers that saw the biggest changes were ‘cross collateral charges’, ‘lease extension before completion’ and ‘holiday lets’.
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Maeve Ward
UNMORTGAGEABLE . SAYS WHO? Whether it’s an unusual building, a borrower with intricate needs or circumstances that are just plain difficult, specialist finance will step in where the high street steps back. Maeve Ward, head of intermediary sales for personal finance at Together, discusses the extent and variety of opportunities in so-called non-standard deals
Words by
CHARLOTTE RYAN
A
cross the UK, the number of properties classified as “unmortgageable” is growing, with over 1.5 million residential properties in Britain now falling into this category, according to Together.
Such properties are worth between £261–303bn, the firm says. In Scotland, non-standard construction accounts for almost 15% of all homes. However, the issue goes beyond this—these days, many would-be borrowers are also failing to meet mainstream criteria. “The term unmortgageable no longer applies purely to unusual properties, which is what it used to be known for,” says Maeve Ward, head of intermediary sales for personal finance at Together. “Now what we’re seeing at Together and more widely across other specialist lenders is that circumstances that fall outside the high street and do not fit their traditional lending model are being referred to as either unmortgageable securities or unmortgageable individuals.”
FEATURE
Once reserved for unconventional builds, the term unmortgageable is quietly spreading across the UK housing market, extending to everyday buyers and homes that no longer fit rigid high-street lending criteria. With this growing slice of the market shut out of mainstream banks, buyers and brokers alike are having to be more flexible as they turn to specialist finance to get deals done. Key drivers of the trend on the property side include energy performance certificate (EPC) compliance, complex tenure or property portfolios, flooding risks and planning restrictions, Maeve says. People who may be considered unmortgageable range from individuals with complex income sources such as property portfolios, to older borrowers or those who cannot afford a standard mortgage. These customers represent a significant opportunity for specialist lenders. While the up to £303bn quoted above is a large number, it’s a conservative estimate and the true opportunity for specialist lending is likely to be far bigger, according to Maeve. “I think the reality is that many of the assets aren’t unmortgageable,” she said. “They’re actually just sitting outside mainstream lending criteria so it’s not that they’re more risky—it’s just that they don’t fit the lending appetite of the high street.”
they can prove their value. Many brokers are trying to be better informed about the alternative lending solutions available, as increasing numbers of customers across regulated and unregulated lending require specialist finance. “It’s about adding more value to their customer throughout the customer’s life cycle,” she explains. “It’s about understanding what it is that they want to achieve over the next five to 10 years, and what that looks like in terms of solutions readily available to them.”
“The reality is that many of the assets aren’t unmortgageable”
It’s not an easy task, according to Maeve. As happened with EPCs, things can change or the government can amend its timeframe unexpectedly, leaving brokers scrambling to get back up to speed.
Brokers are also changing their approach in a more fundamental way, Maeve observes. Faced with demands from customers to transact at speed, they are working backwards, starting from the criteria and approaching only lenders they know will accept their client.
One common issue is EPCs, with the government confirming earlier this year that private rented homes of all tenancies in England and Wales will have to achieve an EPC C rating by 1 October 2030 unless exempt. Some landlords are looking ahead and making changes now, in order to avoid potentially costly fees when everyone does it later in the decade, Maeve observes.
“We’re seeing more people work back to front, criteria first,” she says. They are looking at who is the right lender based on customer circumstances “so that they can move forward more quickly than perhaps they would have done before”.
“You would traditionally see that with bridging finance, as an example, where they take the bridge to do the remedial work, then refinance that onto a binary-level commercial term once the EPC rating has gone up to where it needs to be,” she says.
There’s another reason to take on more atypical deals, Maeve notes. With AI expected to enter mainstream mortgage lending first, a growing number of brokers are pivoting toward specialist finance to safeguard their role in the market. Brokers are going into new areas themselves or partnering with specialists in bridging, residential lending or later life, Maeve says.
Better-informed brokers For brokers, doing these kind of deals may require a change in approach, Maeve says, but she is confident that this is where
“The key thing for me—and what’s really encouraging—is that brokers aren’t deciding to do nothing,” she says. “We are seeing more and more brokers really switching on as they see specialist lending grow in terms of ‘I need to understand a little bit more of
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FEATURE
that because I want to protect my client during their lifetime’.”
“It creates the particularity for specialist lenders that are able to look at multiple income streams, to understand that some people’s income is quite complex in terms of how it’s made up,” she explains. “It’s about those that can have a look at foreign currency earnings, and are willing to look at assets that they have perhaps got overseas as well as those complex ownership structures you tend to find.”
Foreign and family As the market evolves, previously niche sectors are becoming firmly part of the mainstream. Family lending, later life and nonUK resident lending are all becoming more common. Family lending is a growing sector as intergenerational wealth plays a growing role in property ownership, while more people are purchasing together in order to afford a home or get a bigger property. Maeve says Together is seeing everything from joint borrowing arrangements to family-assisted purchases.
This market is likely to grow even further as wealth becomes increasingly mobile and international, she adds. Know what you’re taking on Still, there are potential challenges for brokers looking to enter these expanding niches. Refurbishment and regeneration are big specialist lending opportunities, according to Maeve, with more than 137,000 commercial properties below EPC standards and more than 373,000 privately rented homes not compliant with future requirements.
“These are becoming more of the norm than being perceived as niche,” she observes. “We’re actually starting to see a big shift.” Later-life lending is also increasingly common as people work and live longer, and Together is looking more closely at that segment of the market, she says.
“We are seeing more and more brokers really switching on as they see specialist lending grow”
These deals require brokers to step outside their comfort zone and reach out across the industry to find out what’s available, Maeve says. She points to systems such as Knowledge Bank as tools that brokers can use to better inform themselves about these new areas.
But Maeve warns that refurbishment can involve its own particular challenges. Period properties can face planning restrictions and costs can spiral, particularly for inexperienced developers.
“Where it tends to go wrong is because people perhaps haven’t done enough research up front in terms of the property that they’re looking at, what it is that they’re looking to achieve and whether or not that can be achieved,” she explains. “We tend to see it when people are either expanding too quickly and perhaps have rushed it, or they’ve not taken stock early enough to really understand the size of the project before they got into it.”
In terms of other growth areas, Maeve points to bridgeto-live and the increased popularity of HMOs. Bridge-to-live, where borrowers buy a property at auction then use a bridge loan to do remedial works before moving in is, again, about affordability, she says.
She sees potential for adaptive reuse—where offices or shops are turned into homes, for example—to become its own asset class as more developers turn to this as a way to tackle the housing crisis. “I definitely think the opportunity is there for the right lenders, but I think it will be the specialist lenders that will do something like that more than mainstream lenders,” she said.
“You’ve got first-time buyers who have found the area they want to live in but perhaps they can’t afford a ready-made, firsttime home that they want there, as an example,” she explains. “But they see a property at auction that happens to be in the area they want that perhaps requires some remedial work.”
All of this means the role for brokers in the specialist lending space is changing. Rather than acting purely as intermediaries, advisers are having to take a far more active approach to help clients navigate complex, tailored products.
Developers are also increasingly turning to bridging loans in a slightly tougher market. “They may look to use a slightly different solution to give them more breathing space to release an uplifting profit to go on to the next project, or it may just be that it’s not the right time or the right market to sell right now,” she explains. All of this means that bridging is becoming more mainstream than ever, Maeve says.
“Brokers are going beyond matching clients to rates,” she said. “I think that’s shifted. It’s more about matching clients to solutions.”
Another massive area of growth is non-UK resident lending. The UK remains a highly attractive market to foreign investors but many mainstream lenders have reduced their appetite for such borrowers, she says.
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Sept/Oct 2026
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In Mint Condition Irene Thomas joined Mint as managing director back in February with the remit to ‘take the business to the next level’. Having overhauled staffing, she now wants to hire more of the right people and give Mint a bigger voice in the industry
Irene Thomas
INTERVIEW
What has been your biggest change?
The biggest improvement was defining colleagues’ roles and responsibilities. Unless I’ve got the right people, we haven’t got a business, and people need to know their roles and responsibilities: what do they do at work, and do they feel proud of what they’ve achieved? Prior to doing all of that , some people were doing a bit of underwriting, a bit of portfolio management. That works in a small business but it’s not sustainable for growth.
What prompted Andrew Lazare to bring you in?
Mint had grown successfully under Andrew’s leadership, but after 15 years of building the business, he recognised the value of bringing in fresh perspectives and additional leadership experience to
Unless I’ve got the right people, we haven’t got a business, and people need to know their roles and responsibilities
It doesn’t stop there. We’re now recruiting to grow. That’s not about getting hundreds of people because we don’t need that. We’ve got great systems, great technology. It’s about building strength and getting the missing parts of the jigsaw to be ready for growth next year.
Where do you see headcount ending up?
I think it will stay at 50-ish. If you’ve got a slick customer journey and great relationships with your business partners, valuers, solicitors, brokers etc, you don’t need hundreds of people. Could there be more restructuring?
Not at all. We did some restructuring after I did a review, questioning what individuals do and where the gaps were. That’s already all taken place.
help drive the next stage of growth. He contacted me last October and said, “I want to take the business to the next level, and I think now is the time.” It has been a whirlwind ever since, in the best possible sense.
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INTERVIEW
What does taking the business to the next level look like?
processes and underwriting disciplines in place, the volatility has not affected us.
The vision for me is bringing on the right people. From an origination point of view, we are strengthening the sales team—getting a head of sales and an internal valuer on board—and looking at our internal legal team. What can we do in-house rather than rely on third parties? It’s also more networking, relationship management and roundtables.
What do you hope for next year?
In 2027, we’ll have the right people doing the right job and the right relationships with our third parties, our solicitors and our valuers. So we can make a fresh start and, hopefully, the wars and the volatility will improve.
Do you have a growth target?
What motivates you?
I can’t give you a figure because we’re in the process of writing the business plan, but it’s to grow our market share and continue to go out with our core products. It’s sticking to what we are good at, which is being a trusted bridging and development lender.
It’s about sustainable growth, developing people and giving something back to the industry. Mentoring people, within and outside Mint, is important to me. I am 58 this year, so I’m hoping maybe in another 10 years’ time, I might be able to sit myself on a desert island somewhere and retire. But I’ve got a job to do here first. That’s the way I look at it. My success is seeing others succeed, not just the business.
Can you talk about Mint Intelligence?
It’s basically a lot of thought leadership and sharing what we think about the market, our experiences and feedback from customers, brokers and solicitors. We want to bring it to life later in the year and I will probably do that with my valuer and head of sales coming on board because they would work collectively on this sort of thing.
What about the Development Academy for first-time developers. Can you talk about that?
Coming from a lender that did a lot of development work but whose funders wouldn’t allow them to take first-time developers, I saw a gap. Sam Herd, our head of credit (who set up and leads the academy) is an experienced developer herself and has worked in this industry for many years. She has so much knowledge from her own personal experience and from the loans she’s overseen at Mint. It’s about holding that first-time developer’s hand through the process.
My success is seeing others succeed, not just the business”
It has been a volatile six months in the market. Has Mint had to adjust?
With the war, the new government and base rates, just about everything that could happen has happened and it continues. This year has been and continues to be 100% about stability. Protecting our backbook is key because you’ve got to protect your asset. It’s about working with our customers to make sure there’s no detriment to their loan. Portfolio management has been key, and that is working nicely. We’re still doing new business but because of everything that we’re doing to ensure that we’ve got the right risks, controls, policies,
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INTERVIEW
FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH Deals worth doing are often awkward, portals are overrated and there’s one question every broker should ask a lender. Pallas Capital originator Anna Thompson, who has spent 11 years working on both sides of the lending table, gets answers from specialist brokers
How have your clients’ needs evolved over the past 12–18 months, and what has that meant for your role? Ben Neilson, Melius Commercial: More refinancing from active investors than new purchases, and more development deals with equity partners alongside. Victoria Barton, Enness Global: Clients need funding faster and with more assurance than ever, so clearing every hurdle before submission is essential. They now prioritise structure over pricing, which was not the case two or three years ago. That suits my role; orchestrating a deal from start to finish is what we do best. James Williams, Portway Finance: Maximum leverage is almost always needed, and a lot of valuations haven’t stood the test of time. The cost-of-living crisis has driven a rise in adverse credit, from defaults to small CCJs—there seems to be a blip on most client reports. Among portfolio landlords and experienced developers, we’re seeing far more investment outside standard residential: build-to-rent and purpose-built student accommodation through to commercial. Anna Thompson, Pallas Capital: The move from rate to structure changes what a lender has to be good at, and we built the UK business around it: bridging to 75% LTV, development to 70% LTGDV and 90% LTC. Every case is assessed on its own facts by a senior team, so a small CCJ on an otherwise strong file is a conversation, not a decline.
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INTERVIEW
Which sources do you use to gather genuine market data on your business and the sector at large? Ben: It doesn’t really help my business as we’re always reactive to lender products. Data mining only suits us for prospecting.
How do you intend to grow or win new business over the next year?
Victoria: We rely on external sources and the press. Anna: Honest answers, and the gap isn’t the broker’s to close. If brokers work off conversations rather than datasets, the quality of those conversations depends on us. The structural picture matters: the UK commercial real estate debt market is worth over £250bn, and non-bank lenders now account for 35–40% of new originations against under 10% a decade ago.
Ben: It comes down to certainty of cash, and you don’t know how a lender performs until you get into valuations and legals. That’s where the rub comes in. Victoria: Plenty of existing clients with varying needs. The key is covering all ranges of borrower through different sources. Professional connections are underrated and their heads easily turned, so keeping on top of existing clients keeps growth steady. James: Building introducer networks, from wealth managers, architects and property agents to other brokers. Currently, 30% of our revenue comes from introducers, and we’re looking to build that to 40% in 2027. Anna: It’s encouraging to hear that nurturing existing relationships and valuing repeat business is top of your lists; I doubt this is limited to relationships with clients but extends to your lending partners.
What’s your top priority when assessing a new lender? What comes second and third—and is there such a thing as too many lenders? Ben: Not really is the short answer. Appetite is more important than funding sources in my opinion. Victoria: First is the offering and criteria—what business they’re keen to take on, how they accommodate different structures and where pricing lands. Second is the person representing the business: are they experienced and have they been there long enough to know their credit team? Third, their solicitors and surveyors. Too many lenders? I don’t think so. Anna: Almost every deal worth doing has something awkward in it—we are in specialist finance after all. The question is whether the lender treats that as a reason to stop or a problem to solve.
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10/27/2026 2:17:57 PM
INTERVIEW
Is there more emphasis on how lenders are funded nowadays, and does that influence who you work with? Ben: Any update on appetite helps. It’s about making sure they have the funds to deliver, and that the people sending terms are aligned with the decision-makers behind them. Victoria: You can definitely tell when lenders don’t have their own discretionary funds or a mandated facility. We often avoid lenders that can’t make their own decisions, it leads to too much frustration with 11th-hour changes. As a rule, we avoid forward flow; there are too many options at similar rates to need them.
What could you do with more or less of when it comes to updates—and how do lenders with portals compare to those with a manual process?
Anna: This is the question I’d want every broker asking. A yes that can be overturned by somebody you’ve never spoken to isn’t a yes. Our relationships with our funders are set up to provide maximum mandating authority via our credit team, ensuring quick and clear decisions you can count on.
Ben: No real call for an advanced system unless it’s gathering data from clients. All deals are manually assessed on LTV and the asset, coupled with the client’s viability. Victoria: For automated underwriting, portals have a place and do their job well. But we look after clients with bespoke circumstances who need manual underwriting, and that’s when access to the underwriter and a BDM you can trust are invaluable. Picking up the phone to explain your reasoning can make or break a deal. James: More internal deal meetings to share ideas and brainstorm about lenders—and fewer people who value LinkedIn over actual deliverability. Nothing is more infuriating than a lender with a massive LinkedIn presence that you can never get hold of. Anna: Visibility is not deliverability, and brokers work out the difference quickly. It appears that brokers are really looking for transparency and integrity. From enquiry to completion, understanding the status, the updates, the progress and the hiccups are what keep brokers and clients coming back to the same lender. Although there is plenty of emphasis on the relationship between lender and broker, what sometimes is misunderstood or taken for granted is the most important relationship—that between broker and client. The more informed and transparent we are with our brokers, the more open they are able to be with their clients, which is truly what good service is all about. Fewer updates that say nothing, and more conversations to resolve something.
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Hinesh Varsani
WARNING SIGNS By the time a Receiver is appointed, the causes of distress often look obvious. Hinesh Varsani explains where the red flags usually appear – and what brokers can do before a transaction reaches that point
Words by
HINESH VARSANI
Fixed charge receiver, Belleveue Mortlakes A receiver sees a loan at the point when optimism has collided with reality. The refinance has not completed, the sale has slipped, rent has stopped reaching the lender or an apparently straightforward asset has proved far more complicated to control and sell. Yet genuine distress rarely arrives without warning. In most cases, the signs were present months earlier. They sat in the gaps between the borrower’s account of
the transaction, the documents available and what the asset could realistically deliver. While brokers are not expected to predict every default, they are often well placed to identify those gaps before a proposal reaches credit.
From the instructions we see across residential, mixed-use and commercial property, these are the 10 questions worth asking.
“Small discrepancies at the outset often become significant once the lender needs to enforce” Is the refinance funding an exit or simply buying time? Repeated short-term refinancing is one of the clearest warning signs. A borrower may describe the next facility as a bridge to sale or stabilisation but the history may show that debt is being rolled because the original plan has not worked. Ask what has materially changed since the last refinance. If the answer is little more than a new lender and a later maturity date, the underlying risk remains.
Bridging & Commercial
Do the documents support the story?
Is the exit a plan or just a date?
A convincing explanation is not evidence. If rental income, expenditure, ownership, occupation or the proposed exit cannot be reconciled with bank statements, leases, management accounts and title documents, the inconsistency needs to be resolved rather than explained away. Small discrepancies at the outset often become significant once the lender needs to enforce.
“Refinance in six months” and “sell when complete” are dates, not exit strategies. A credible exit identifies the funder or buyer, the conditions still to be met, the evidence of demand, the costs involved and the contingency if timing slips. We regularly encounter cases where the stated exit depends on planning, vacant possession, a lease event or third-party funding but the programme allows no room for any of them to go wrong.
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Who is actually occupying the property? Occupation is too often reduced to a line in a valuation report. The reality may involve subletting, company lets, guaranteed-rent arrangements, local-authority placements, undocumented occupiers or leases granted on terms the lender has never seen. This affects control, income, compliance, possession and saleability. The names of the occupiers, the basis of occupation and the complete contractual chain should be established before completion, not after default.
Deferred capex is often an early sign of pressure before missed payments begin. It may also leave the lender with an asset that cannot be let, insured or marketed without further expenditure. Brokers should look beyond the cosmetic condition and ask whether fire safety, utilities, structural repairs, licensing, insurance and statutory compliance are current. A borrower conserving cash by postponing essential work may be preserving today’s payment at the expense of tomorrow’s exit.
Restrictions, historic charges, defective leases, rights of first refusal, planning breaches and missing consents are not matters to leave for the conveyancers at the eventual sale. They can change the pool of buyers, delay exchange or require a completely different disposal structure. We recently dealt with an apparently valuable residential asset where the practical route to sale depended on resolving lease restrictions and assembling historic refurbishment information. The value was present but it could not be realised by simply placing the property online.
Can the income be traced and controlled? A rent schedule is useful but is not proof that the income exists or will reach the lender. Check the underlying agreements, payment history, arrears, deductions and deposits, and whether a managing party is entitled to retain sums for repairs or other costs. On live appointments, considerable time can be lost establishing who collected rent, what was deducted and on whose instructions payments were made.
Headline market value and LTV can create false comfort. The more useful questions are what the property is worth in its present condition with its current occupation and title and within a realistic sale period. Vacant-possession and investment values may differ materially. So may values over 90 or 180 days. Where the exit depends on a narrow buyer group, unfinished works or regularising a defect, that needs to be visible in both the valuation and the credit decision. 71
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Concern in 2026 is not confined to one property sector. The recurring theme is execution risk. Residential schemes can be undermined by occupation, lease or title complications. Commercial assets can depend on one tenant, one investor or one planning outcome. High-value property can be difficult to realise where works are incomplete or legal restrictions narrow the market. In one commercial instruction, a proposed occupational transaction appeared to offer a route forward but depended on third-party investment. When that funding fell away, updated valuations, auction advice and a fresh legal pack were required immediately. The lesson was not that the asset lacked value; it was that the strategy had only one moving part capable of producing the intended result. That distinction matters. A good asset does not cure a weak structure, and a low headline LTV does not remove the cost and delay of enforcement. The broker’s role is not to eliminate risk but to expose it clearly enough for the lender to price it, structure around it and monitor it.
Before sending your next case to a lender, read the proposal once more as though the exit has failed and a receiver has just been appointed. What information would they need on day one? What would prevent them from taking control, collecting income or selling? Which assumption would be most expensive if it proved wrong? By the time a receiver is appointed, the warning signs often look obvious. The skill is recognising them six or 12 months earlier—while there is still time to do something about it.
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COVER STORY
Bridging & Commercial
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COVER STORY
Handing
brokers the mic Tighter criteria, weaker trust, and greater scrutiny are making deals harder to place. But as the market adjusts to mounting pressure, brokers discuss whether the shake-up will ultimately create a stronger, more stable sector
Words by
CHARLOTTE RYAN
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A
sk anyone in specialist finance to describe the past few years, and you’ll hear the same words on repeat: challenging, bumpy and unpredictable.
From relentless UK political turmoil, to the war in Iran, and the collapse of lender Market Financial Solutions (MFS), there has been plenty to keep the market busy. For specialist finance brokers, that volatility has translated into pulled rates and stalled deals. We spoke to the advisers operating in this market to hear what it’s been like—and what changes they would like to see. Reacting to the collapse of MFS MFS went into administration in February 2026 amid major fraud allegations, with its collapse sending shock waves through the specialist finance sector, particularly as it came just weeks after fellow bridging lender Century Capital also fell into administration. London-based specialist broker Jessica Reehal had two deals in with MFS, including one worth £2.2m. She only found out they wouldn’t be going ahead when she saw the news about the lender’s demise on her phone.
“You opened your phone and it was everywhere, and then I think about halfway through the day I got an email,” she says. “It was just gutting because we had the terms agreed—we were literally doing legals.” It was the same story for Narinder Gill, an associate at Coreco Specialist Finance. He had a significant loan facility with the lender for £5.5m ready to complete in the next couple of days, when an email arrived at 4.30pm on a Friday notifying his firm that MFS was going into administration. The loan was to help a borrower redeem a defaulting loan, so when it fell through they faced a severe financial penalty, he recalls. Lincolnshire-based Michael Primrose, managing director at The Property Finance Collective, didn’t even get an email, finding out about the firm’s collapse on the news. His firm had some deals that were quite advanced and struggled to find another home for them. “You would go to another lender, you’d say we had funding in place with MFS on this one, and it almost felt like it was tainted,” he remembers. Clients were asking how brokers had failed to anticipate the collapse, he says, prompting some difficult conversations. Business also slowed around deals involving lenders with securities linked to MFS, although the brokerage was ultimately able to place every case.
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In terms of the wider market impact, brokers universally agree that criteria have tightened in the aftermath of the firm’s unravelling. “There just doesn’t seem to be the flexibility that there used to be, which was one of the main benefits of the commercial finance market,” observes Michael. While lenders have picked up some of the deals MFS was doing, they are looking at what’s on their desks much more closely, Narinder notes. “They’re coming to the table, but with a stronger magnifying glass on these deals, which is fine,’’ he says. “As brokers, it’s our role to highlight the merits and demerits of cases and, ultimately, lenders will make their own decisions. But some of those lenders wouldn’t have been approached in the past because lenders like MFS and Century were well versed in and well suited to prime central London real estate lending.”
Caught between global conflict and domestic uncertainty, brokers have to navigate an increasingly fragile lending environment. “I’m incredibly disappointed by how strong the impact has been on our market from third-party influences that none of us have had any control over,” says Joe Aston, commercial director at Aria Finance. “It’s a really frustrating situation. We found ourselves building one of the most exciting pipelines we’ve had in a couple of years in the first quarter of this year, and the conflict in the Middle East and Trump’s invasion of Iran really threw that right off kilter.” The large swings in interest rates are causing problems for both lenders and brokers, Joe says, with 15 basis point moves from one day to the next. Borrower behaviour has also changed, he notes, and it’s becoming harder to build the same trusting relationships with borrowers as they begin to doubt and challenge unattractive deals. All of this is making business slower, brokers say, with Joe describing it as “walking through treacle” and Michael like “pushing a rock up a hill”. While deal volumes remain steady, brokers are having to work twice as hard to
Political shocks rattle the market It’s not just the downfall of MFS that brokers have had to contend with, but also seemingly unending political turmoil. Internationally, the US war with Iran that began in February triggered financial market turbulence, spiking volatility and forcing lenders to rethink risk exposure almost overnight. Meanwhile, at home, Andy Burnham’s arrival in Downing Street this July marked the UK’s seventh prime minister in just 10 years.
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COVER STORY
Bridging & Commercial
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secure them, facing constant uncertainty right up until the deal is signed. Michael reports that he now has to chase lenders multiple times to get terms issued, valuers are slower than they need to be, and solicitors need continual prodding to keep deals moving. “It just feels like, until you get that email from the lender, something can go wrong at any point,” he says. “I think that’s because of everything going on—the Iran war and everything else.” Joe agrees, reporting that his firm is having to work much harder to get deals done. “I don’t think we’re doing that same volume of transactions on autopilot, we’re working really hard for it and I think the sales team are really grafting to keep our distribution high and our market reach extensive,” he observes. “We’re not growing in the way that I would expect, and I think that’s in the market.”
“I’m incredibly disappointed by how strong the impact has been on our market from third-party influences that none of us have had any control over” be impacted by that.”
looking at potentially doing deals,” he says. For Michael, the kinds of transactions taking place are signs of a struggling market. “We are busier now with development exit, for example and, for us, that’s a tell-tale sign that one, stuff is struggling to sell, and two, stuff is struggling to rent,” he highlights. “I think a lot of developers are struggling to deliver within the timeframe that they hope to, with rising material costs so they are having to diversify their exits.” Brokers lean on peers to vet lenders In the wake of the MFS collapse and broader market turmoil, brokers are becoming more cautious when it comes to the lenders they use. Several are using WhatsApp groups and their networks to suss out potential lenders, proceeding only if someone can give a recommendation or an introduction.
Bye-bye BTL In an already stressed market, the changes to renters’ rights, which came into force on 1st May, are having a significant impact. Brokers are seeing clients turn away from BTL owing to the new rules and looking at other options, such as turning their BTLs into holiday accommodation. “A fair few of my clients who previously would just stick to standard single BTLs and family homes are now more open to the idea of HMOs and multi-lets,” says Shaz Ahmed, founder of Elan Property Finance. “Beyond that, to avoid some of the stuff around renters’ rights, a lot of them are now looking into short-term lets and Airbnbs because they believe that will not
Shaz cautions that he is not sure that their interpretation of the rules is correct but says that, at least for the time being, some clients see it as a way to avoid some of the additional burdens and responsibilities brought in by the Renters’ Rights Act. His clients tend to target longer-term tenants such as hospital staff or hospitality workers. Others agree that the kind of deals they are doing are changing. For Craig Smith at Carter Smith Property Finance, while standard BTL houses or flats have become very difficult, complex deals are becoming more popular. “Investors are definitely getting more adventurous and creative [in] the way they’re
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“We have WhatsApp groups and little sessions to say, ‘Guys, we’ve got this deal, and we dealt with this lender’ ”, reports Shaz. “Using my own peers as a sounding board and helping each other out has been happening a lot more.” Bringing trust back to the market The MFS collapse has also raised questions about whether the market needs more transparency or even regulation. Brokers are more divided on this topic, with some worried about regulating a market that by its nature is supposed to be more flexible than traditional finance. Others wonder how it would be policed or how standards would be determined in a market
Sept/Oct 2026
COVER STORY
with so many niche deals.
“Investors are definitely getting more adventurous and creative [in] the way they›re looking at potentially doing deals”
For Craig, a ratings system that assigns lenders a trustworthiness score seems like a good approach. But the challenge would be how to do it fairly given the highly specific nature of transactions in the market, he believes. “There needs to be more transparency for sure,” he states, “but I don’t know how you keep it fair across each lender because each lender is very different. It’s quite a unique industry we work in, so it’s tricky to do that.”
Joe, meanwhile, wants to see some of the processes that are in place on the regulated side of the market being rolled out to specialist finance. In terms of a ratings system, he says the jury is out on whether it would be helpful. It would need buy-in from the entire market and credible judges or contributors to ensure it didn’t just become a popularity contest, he says. “It’s very difficult to police. It’s hard for anyone other than the FCA to police with full credibility.”
For Michael, introducing further oversight to the sector would prove challenging—largely because the regulator is already stretched to its limits. “The FCA can’t keep up with what they’ve already got, let alone then trying to add in a whole system of regulation for the bridging [and] development market,” he explains. “The only thing we do need is probably some sort of regulation around fees.” Michael feels there is a need for increased transparency in the fees brokers charge clients, and points to the automotive industry as an example of the kind of system that might work. The Federal Trade Commission in the US recently published guidance on fee transparency for vehicle dealers, which covers the fees they are allowed to charge and requires these to be set out clearly in any contract. He sees room for a similar system in specialist finance. The rest is still underwritten After laying bare the pressures, frustrations and shifting dynamics shaping today’s market, one question remains: if brokers could get every specialist lender in the same room, what would they want to tell them? “I would like to get across that, beyond all
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the deal sizes, proc fees, commissions, interest rates, and profit margins, we are ultimately dealing with people trying to build a financial future for themselves and their families,” states Shaz. “I think we need to look at that human element a little bit more.” Brokers are clear that some parts of the lending process still live or die by the quality of human judgement. And for several, one particular group is becoming a growing source of frustration: underwriters. “I think one of the biggest ones would be to get the sales team to talk to the underwriting team because so many times you will have a conversation with a BDM and they’ll promise the world and then, all of a sudden, you’ll speak to the underwriter and they’ll say, ‘No, we can’t do that’,” explains Michael. “I think it can become quite damaging to the brand if all of a sudden you have to change terms every 10 seconds.” Craig agrees, saying that at times there can be an almost “cutting” tone from underwriters to brokers. “I would like to see more of a partnership approach—that you want to work with clients as opposed to making them feel that the appetite isn’t there—because it creates a lot of nervousness for brokers and clients,” he suggests. “It’s a collaborative process that I would like to see more, personally.” Working more closely with underwriters isn’t just about making life easier for brokers, but also about giving borrowers a better experience. For Joe, that client experience sits at the very heart of the process. “I think my message would be that the biggest challenge we all have in transacting, even on good deals, is making sure the customer feels safe, secure and informed,” he says. “A focus on the customer journey would be my overarching message and I think we’d
all transact better.” Building client trust, however, requires a market built on solid foundations. While tighter scrutiny may be slowing down the process in the short term, many view it as a necessary price to pay for long-term stability. “Maybe there’s a little bit more red tape and a bit more due diligence,” Joe says. “If the aftermath means we lose more lenders who are doing wrong, then so be it. What we want in this space are good lenders lending with integrity, lending with a view on the long term, not quick wins—and that benefits brokers, borrowers and lenders alike.”
So, we listened.
When brokers want MORE, choose West One. Got a commercial case worth talking about? Let’s have the conversation. commercial.term@westoneloans.co.uk 0333 123 4556 www.westoneloans.co.uk West One is a trading name of the underlying firms, which are registered in England and Wales and have their registered office address at The Edward Hyde Building, 38 Clarendon Road, Watford, WD17 1JW. West One Loan Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm Reference Number 510024); its company registration number is 05385677. West One Secured Loans Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm Reference Number 776026); its company registration number is 09425230.
OPINION
Having one law firm acting for lender and borrower can cut costs, time and nasty surprises—but it’s not suitable for all cases
Words by
NARINDER HAYER
Founder and director at Lansdowne Law
PAUL CAIN
Partner at Lansdowne Law
Bridging runs on speed. One firm acting for both lender and borrower cuts out the back and forth that slows everything down. No second set of lawyers to chase, no waiting for two firms to agree a date. Information moves once. On a deal that needs to complete in days, that can save it. It’s cheaper too. There’s one file, so one bill instead of two. On short-term lending, where fees eat into the numbers fast, that adds up. And, because the borrower is usually the one footing the legal costs on both sides, whether directly or through the loan structure, cutting a second set of fees is not a marginal saving. On a small bridge, it can be the difference between a deal that stacks up and one that doesn’t. It also means fewer nasty surprises. One solicitor sees the whole picture instead of half of it through someone else’s correspondence. Problems are caught and sorted out in a single conversation, not through a week of emails between four parties. A title issue, a missing consent or a gap in the security package are spotted once and fixed once, rather
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OPINION
than discovered by one firm and relayed second-hand to another that then has to form its own view before anyone can move. There is a less obvious benefit too, which is consistency of standard. A solicitor who has acted on hundreds of bridging completions for a lender’s panel knows exactly what that lender needs to see before it will release funds. That institutional memory means fewer queries are raised for their own sake and fewer conditions added because a borrower’s solicitor, acting for the first and only time on this kind of facility, wants to be seen to have covered every base. Familiarity cuts friction on both sides of the file. Where it works and where it doesn’t None of that means anything goes. Dual representation works only where there’s no conflict of interest, full stop. The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s position is that a solicitor can act for both lender and borrower only where they are satisfied there is no conflict or no significant risk of one arising, and both parties have given informed consent. That is a genuinely high bar, and it narrows the scope of deals where dual representation belongs considerably more than the marketing around it sometimes suggests. In practice, it is compatible with standard vanilla lending, such as regulated bridging on a residential property, straightforward commercial BTL refinance, loans secured on a single asset with no unusual charges behind them and
documentation drawn from a standard suite that isn’t up for negotiation. These are deals where the borrower’s and lender’s interests point broadly the same way, both want a clean, fast completion on terms that are already fixed and 89
there is little room for a separate adviser to negotiate even if one were instructed. Circumstances involving distressed borrowers, unusual security or terms that need negotiation rather than a rubber stamp are where separate advice matters, and a good firm says so rather than waving it through. Add to that list anything with multiple charge holders, cross-collateralised assets, second charges behind an existing facility or a borrower who is under commercial pressure and needs someone advocating for their position rather than a solicitor whose role is, by definition, not to favour either side. In those situations, a solicitor cannot properly advise the borrower on whether the terms are good ones, because doing so would mean taking a position against the lender’s interest. That’s not a technicality; it’s the whole reason separate representation exists in law. The judgement call sits with the firm, not the borrower and not the lender. A responsible panel firm builds in the checks that catch this before instruction rather than midway through a transaction, because pulling out of a dual instruction once it’s under way is slower and more expensive for everyone than never having accepted it. From high street to bridging Dual representation is not new and was not born in the bridging sector. It has been standard practice in mainstream residential conveyancing for decades, where a buyer’s solicitor routinely also acts for the mortgage lender under the terms of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook (previously the CML Handbook). That arrangement works because the loan and security documentation is entirely standard, the lender sits on a large panel of approved firms and the scope for a genuine conflict is narrow. It is so embedded in ordinary housebuying that most borrowers never notice it’s happening. Bridging picked it up later, as larger lenders offering high-volume, standardised products looked for ways to cut processing times and offer borrowers a more competitive package. It has had genuine traction in that corner of the market—the more commoditised, process-driven end—rather than in complex or bespoke development finance, and it has gone through cycles of popularity as lenders push for faster completions and lower costs. It has also faced credible criticism. Concerns raised over the years, including research commissioned within the specialist lending sector, include whether dual representation genuinely delivers the speed it promises and whether structural imbalance is an issue; the solicitor typically has an ongoing, repeat relationship with the lender, who provides a steady flow of work, while the borrower is often a one-off client the firm may never see again. That does not make dual representation wrong, but it is exactly why the conflict test has to be applied rigorously and not treated as a formality to get through on the way to instruction. Firms to pick for a panel The firms worth having on a panel are the ones that know the difference. They understand how lenders think, what borrowers need to hear and where deals usually go wrong, because they’ve done enough of them to know. Just as importantly, they’re the firms willing to say no. A panel firm that never turns down a dual instruction is not a firm that’s found the perfect process but one that isn’t looking hard enough at the conflict question. Done right, dual representation is not a shortcut. It’s how a bridging deal moves at the speed the market expects without anyone getting shortchanged on advice.
Sept/Oct 2026
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OPINION
Clear alignment on roles and risks fosters stronger partnerships and drives faster completions
Words by
MICHAEL STRATTON
Founder and CEO at MS Lending Group
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Michael Stratton
“Let’s be honest about the structure, because that clarity makes us better partners”
OPINION
I
n bridging finance, lenders occupy a specific position in every deal. We deploy capital, we carry the risk and we make the final call on deals. But here’s what I’ve learned as CEO and founder of a lender: understanding that position isn’t about dominance—it’s about building something that actually works. Brokers operate in a particular space in that structure, one that is critical. They are the ones with the highest access to deals. They’re the ones who understand borrowers. They’re the ones who navigate the market faster than anyone else. We couldn’t do what we do without that intelligence and those relationships. But let’s be honest about the structure, because that clarity makes us better partners.
Speed isn’t everything Brokers are under pressure. Borrowers want answers yesterday. Their economics depend on moving deals. We get that. And we want to move fast too. But we can’t move faster than we can think. Our underwriting isn’t a formality; it’s how we stay in business. When we reject a submission, it’s not because you didn’t pitch it Risk is the dividing line right. It’s because something doesn’t fit our risk When a deal goes bad, it’s a lender’s money at appetite. stake. We’re the ones managing the loss, naviHere’s what I respect about the best brogating the default and holding the asset. That’s kers: they understand this. They don’t try to not a complaint; it’s just the reality of lending. convince us to bend our criteria. Instead, they It’s also why lenders have to be disciplined learn our criteria so well that the deals they about underwriting. bring us are already pre-qualified. That speeds Brokers carry a different kind of risk—repueverything up because we’re evaluating deals tational and relationship based—but we’re the that fit, not deals we have to reshape. ones holding the loans when it goes wrong. So, As the capital provider, we have power in when we push back on submissions or when this relationship. we ask hard questions about borrower intent But smart lenders know that power or exit strategy, we’re not being difficult. We’re is useful only if it’s deployed protecting something that’s ours to protect. thoughtfully. At MS Lending The best brokers we work with, including Group, we’ve invested in those who bring us their best deals, understand relationships with our broker this. They respect it. And, because they respect it, they panel because we know that’s bring us submissions that reflect that same rigour. That’s when where good deal flow comes everything works smoothly. from. We spend time explaining our underwriting. We give What we need from brokers feedback when we decline. Because we’re taking the risk, we need inforWe’re consistent about what we mation we can trust. We need to know you’ve want. That consistency is how brokers done your homework on the borrower. We learn to send us the best deals. And, when need property estimates that are realistic, not brokers bring us quality, we move. We say yes optimistic. We need exit strategies that are viquickly. We fund well. We’re reliable partners, able, not hopeful. This isn’t about bureaucracy. not obstacles. It’s about us both knowing we’re working from solid ground. At MS Lending Group, we’ve found that when brokers have a clear picture of what we actually underwrite for, not just our criteria sheets but our thinking, everything improves. Fewer wasted submissions. Faster decisions. Better outcomes for everyone.
The bottom line Yes, lenders carry the risk and make the final call and that gives us the authority in the relationship. But that authority is only worth something if we use it to build a healthy ecosystem. The brokers who thrive are the ones who respect this structure but don’t resent it. They see it as a structure that makes sense.
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And the lenders who win are those who recognise that brokers are partners, with a different role and different constraints, but partners nonetheless. If you’re a broker reading this, here’s what I want you to know: at MSLG, we value what you do. The deal flow, the market intelligence, the relationships—those are what makes our business possible. What we ask for in return is professionalism and rigour that matches the gravity of what we’re doing. Do that, and you’ll find that working with us is straightforward. We’ll move fast. We’ll be clear about why we say yes or no. We’ll do exactly what we say we’ll do. And we’ll build something worth creating together.
“The lenders who win are those who recognise that brokers are partners, with a different role and different constraints, but partners nonetheless”
Bridging & Commercial
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Celebrate 15 Years With Us The Finance Professional Show | Stand E15
Est. 2011
Est. 2011
9:30am | Event Opens Join us on stand E15 as we celebrate 15 amazing years! 12pm | Panel Discussion What do bridging brokers want now? Join our CEO, Jonathan Sealey, as he dives into the trends, challenges and priorities shaping the market today. 1:00pm | Bar Opens Join us as we reveal this year’s edition of our very own beer!
This year so far... •
• •
Funding increased: • Increased our Shawbrook committed funding line • Funding renewed: Extended our Triple Point senior funding line • New funding: Welcomed Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB)
Scotland expanded: Introduced dual legal representation Max Net launched: Brought a new solution to market Dual+ enhanced: Strengthened our proposition
• • •
Leadership growth: Celebrated directorlevel promotions Industry backing: Joined the NACFB as a Patron 10,000 sq. ft. HQ: Moved into our new headquarters
Gurvinder Sall
OPINION
A BROKER’S DIARY From going it alone to the power of being part of a team Words by
GURVINDER SALL Debt advisor at Landmark Specialist Finance
J
ust before the pandemic, I made one of those career decisions that looks either incredibly brave or highly questionable, depending on your perspective. I left the legal industry. After years working in law, I decided to make the move into financial services and, more specifically, mortgage broking. The decision came from bringing together three long-standing passions of mine: business ownership, property and finance. While corporate law was challenging and rewarding, I found myself missing the direct client contact and genuine relationships that I valued most. I took the plunge and joined a directly authorised brokerage as an AR, effectively starting again from scratch, rebuilding my professional identity from the ground up. I had no established client book, no over-
flowing inbox and certainly no queue of people waiting outside my imaginary office door asking for a mortgage. What I did have was enthusiasm, a willingness to learn and the rather important realisation that, if I wanted clients, I was going to have to go and find them.
Being my own business
Working as an AR gave me the opportunity to build my own business while having the framework and compliance structure of a larger, directly authorised firm behind me. But, day to day, much of the responsibility was mine. I established my own opportunities, built introducer relationships, chased documents and learned lender criteria—all while discovering that “I just need a pdf” can somehow result in 47 individual
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Enter the bigger team
photos of bank statements. There were no 9am meetings dividing up firm clients to contact or beautifully prepared spreadsheets with an extensive lead list. There were no colleagues sitting next to me saying, “Have you tried this lender?” If something needed doing, I rolled up my sleeves and got it done. I learned how to network, ask better questions, develop genuine business relationships and, importantly, how to stay resilient when business development doesn’t immediately translate into business. A lot of specialist finance is relationship driven. People remember how you treated them, whether you picked up the phone and were prepared to find a solution when the obvious one didn’t work. Those relationships quickly turned into repeat business. I eventually ran my own AR enterprise within a larger network for around two years and, by then, I had built something I didn’t have when I started: a genuine client base and, importantly, a reputation.
This year, I made another significant move and joined Landmark Specialist Finance, which is part of the Landmark business. The transition felt natural because I wasn’t starting again as a broker. I was bringing several years of experience with me. What changed was the environment around me. I now had a much broader support network and depth of expertise at my disposal, allowing me to build on the experience and relationships I had already developed rather than having to manage everything independently. Landmark Specialist Finance’s collaborative culture has also changed the way I work. Being small enough that everyone knows each other means specialist knowledge across the business is never more than a phone call away—and that’s sharpened my own expertise faster than working in isolation ever would. The client sees one point of contact but behind that is a depth of knowledge you’d expect from a much bigger operation. Previously, a client might come to me with a problem and my immediate thought would be, “Which product fits?” Now the question is: “What is the best financial solution for this client?” That is a subtle difference, but I think it is an important one. A client may initially ask about a mortgage but the real requirement might involve bridging finance, development funding, commercial borrowing or business finance.
Doing it myself
There is something incredibly liberating about working independently. You can develop your own style of working and decide exactly how you want to look after clients. When you’re working largely by yourself, your resilience grows. A difficult case? I’ll see it through. A lender query at 4.55pm on a Friday? Handled. A client who suddenly decides they need to complete three weeks earlier than originally planned? Let’s make it happen. That experience taught me a huge amount about ownership. I couldn’t depend on a team. I had to develop my own judgement, confidence and problem-solving ability. Despite embracing the challenge, there was another side to working independently that I hadn’t fully appreciated: I missed
Don’t be a know-all
In specialist finance, nobody knows everything. There are too many lenders, criteria nuances, structures and ways of putting a transaction together. What makes a good broker isn’t necessarily having every answer immediately. It’s being aware of the right questions to ask, knowing where to find the answer and having the relationships around you to get there.
There is something incredibly liberating about working independently. You can develop your own style of working and decide exactly how you want to look after clients” Working within a larger team has made that particularly apparent. I still bring the same entrepreneurial mindset and client ownership to a case. The difference is that I’m no longer trying to be the entire orchestra while simultaneously selling tickets.
being part of a team. I enjoyed having ownership but I also missed being able to bounce ideas around, learn from people with different experiences and have colleagues around me who understood the pressures of the job. In specialist finance, no two cases are ever quite the same and, sometimes, the best solution comes from having a room full of different perspectives. That realisation was a big part of what ultimately led me to the next step in my journey.
Bridging & Commercial
Professional proximity
One of the other things I’ve noticed is the impact a larger organisation can have on business-to-business relationships. When you’re operating independently, your personal reputation is your biggest asset—and that remains hugely important. But being part of a broader business creates opportunities for
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OPINION
relationships to develop at a different level. That creates a stronger ecosystem. And specialist finance is fundamentally an ecosystem. Deals rarely happen in isolation. They happen because brokers, lenders, valuers, solicitors, accountants, developers, investors and advisers all communicate effectively.
Alone and with allies
Working independently taught me accountability, resilience, business development and the importance of building your own relationships. It forced me to become resourceful. Working within a larger brokerage has taught me something different: you don’t lose your independence by being part of a team. You gain leverage. When you’re solo, you sometimes wish you had more support. When you’re in a larger organisation, you occasionally miss the ability to make every decision yourself. But the two experiences have shaped me into a more rounded broker. My journey from law, to starting from virtually nothing as an AR, to building relationships and eventually joining Landmark Specialist Finance has taught me that broking isn’t simply about finding a lender. It’s about understanding the person behind the case, identifying what they need to achieve, and knowing how to connect them with the right solution. Perhaps the biggest lesson of all is that you don’t have to choose between being entrepreneurial and being part of a team. The honest answer is simply: you can do both. You just need to know when to pick up the phone and ask for help from your team—and, after years of working by myself, I’m finally getting rather good at that.
You don’t lose your independence by being part of a team. You gain leverage” 107
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On the Rise
Abby
After graduating in 2024, Abby Alexander moved straight into finance—putting her on the trajectory that has seen her promoted to Business Development Executive at TAB less than a year after joining as an internal sales specialist. Here, she discusses the art of asking the right questions at the right time, and why true ambition is about more than job titles
You joined TAB as a graduate in internal sales and quickly moved into a business development executive role. What drew you to specialist lending? I graduated from Leeds with a 2:1 degree in business management and knew I wanted to work in finance. My first job was junior bond broker. That taught me about as a working in a high-pressure environment where you need to absorb information quickly and make informed decisions. I passed all the exams for the CISI capital markets programme. What attracted me to TAB was the opportunity to try something new. It was the prospect of learning about the industry while being much closer to people and businesses. In commercial mortgages and bridging finance, you aren’t just looking at numbers—you have to understand the property, the borrower, what they are trying to achieve and why. I get to understand how cases develop while working with more experienced people. My aim is to build knowledge and become someone brokers can rely on—someone who can, say, deliver commercial mortgages at bridging speed.
Alexander
What has been the biggest challenge?
ing where a facility needs to be replaced or a borrower wants to release capital. Often, the property isn’t a problem but the circumstances may be complicated. That is where a specialist lender can offer something different. Brokers value certainty. They need to know whether there is a viable route quickly and whether the answer is no or yes. As my BDM colleague Gary Melville puts it, “There’s nothing worse than a slow no.”
Starting from scratch. I am trying to develop my understanding of property finance and my judgement of what a good deal is, why a case that looks straightforward at first might require a different approach and when to push for a deal. Specialist lending is so interesting because it isn’t a “computer says no” industry. Two cases can appear similar on paper but look very different once you examine the detail—the borrower, property, loan structure, circumstances and exit. I’ve had to learn how to ask the right questions. Timing often matters, so there is pressure to get things right without allowing the need for speed to lead to mistakes. My role is to gather the relevant information, make sure it gets to the right people internally and keep the process moving. I’m increasingly able to recognise the important details and understand what underwriting is likely to need. That is probably the biggest change I’ve seen in myself.
What does an ideal broker relationship look like? The best are close, frank, even friendly—they are based on clear communication and trust. This means both sides being straightforward about what is happening, the information needed and the next step. And being available. One of the most useful things a broker can do is give us a clear picture at the beginning. If something is missing, I’d rather ask the question immediately than allow it to cause a delay later on. Honesty is important. If a case isn’t going to work, the broker needs to know. I act as a link between brokers and people making lending decisions so I need to understand what the broker is trying to achieve. Fortunately, with our new £200m facility, we’re in a better position to say “yes” than ever before.
What deals or borrower demands are you seeing most frequently? Borrowers and brokers are looking for flexibility and often speed. We see enquiries across residential, commercial and mixed-use property for a range of purposes. Refinancing is important, includ-
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Where do you hope to be in five years? At my age, five years is quite a long time. I’m less focused on job titles—I’d measure career progression by responsibility, the quality of broker relationships and whether people trust my judgement. I’d like to have a more senior business development role, with strong relationships across the market—and with lawyers, valuers and packagers—and learn from different parties. I enjoy understanding what someone is trying to achieve and working out whether we can help. I want to become more confident in having those conversations. I’d also like to be handling more complex propositions and taking greater responsibility. That means developing a deeper understanding of property, credit, structuring and the wider market, as well as becoming better at explaining those to brokers. I want to develop into a strong BDM and become someone brokers turn to when they have a difficult case—someone who offers clarity at every step and finds solutions. I don’t fear rejection. I think that will stand me in good stead in business development.
Abby Alexander
WHEN PAYMENTS STOP, WE START When borrowers stop paying, immediate action is critical. Delay increases risk - momentum is everything. Our LPA Receivers & Recoveries team acts quickly to take control, shifting situations from standstill to full momentum. With a decisive, hands-on approach, we bring clarity, control and pace from the outset. We assess rapidly, act decisively and drive progress at every stage - stabilising positions, maximising outcomes and accelerating recovery. Contact our team to set the pace from lights out.
Hinesh Varsani
07841 249 737 hvarsani@bmortlakes.com
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07377 596 758 mperrett@bmortlakes.com
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17 Hanover Square, Mayfair, London W1S 1BN t: 020 7323 1100 www.bmortlakes.com
LIMELIGHT
Octane Capital welcomed brokers and industry partners to its annual Summer Party at Radio Rooftop in the heart of London’s West End, for an evening celebrating the relationships and people that have played such an important part in the business over the past year. With panoramic views across the London skyline, guests enjoyed great food and drinks alongside live entertainment, including the return of our hugely popular closeup magician and a DJ who kept the party going well into the evening. Now firmly established as one of the highlights of the Octane calendar, the Summer Party is our opportunity to step away from deals for an evening, bring together many of the people we work closely with and, most importantly, say thank you for their continued support.
Photography by
FELICITY LASS
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LIMELIGHT
Octane summer party recap Octane’s summer party at Radio Rooftop on the Strand saw the firm’s brokers and partners gather for an evening of food, drinks and entertainment
So great to have all our key brokers, valuers and lawyers together partying under one roof. Not only brilliant at what they do, some showcased DJ’ing and dancing skills too!” JONATHAN SAMUELS
CEO
LIMELIGHT
Colenko Golf Day 2026 Colenko held its annual golf day on 17th September at the Moor Park Golf & Tennis Club. Organised by the specialist property finance lender, the networking and sport event brought together property finance professionals, brokers and industry consultants.
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LIMELIGHT
Lenders v Brokers football event
There were more goals than a Brazil-Germany World Cup match at the annual Lenders v Brokers football event, which ended in a 9-9 draw. An annual fixture in the property finance calendar, the match takes place every September at Horsham FC. An eleven aside team of lenders plays a team of brokers, with the game followed by a filmed penalty competition and an awards ceremony with food and drinks. Sponsored by BLEND, Jury O’Shea and Anderson Wild and Harris, it was the fourth time that lenders have taken on brokers on the football pitch and organisers say the best attended so far. With lots of networking opportunities between lenders and brokers at the event and 158 members in the Whatsapp group, the event-and the goal tally- looks set to grow even further next year.
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What a night. The industry at its best! TAB
B&C know how to rock the joint! Together
Medianett breaking new ground, again! Black & White
The ultimate recognition for achievement in specialist finance Colenko
The Oscars of the lending world Spector Constant & Williams
The night B&C went blockbuster Allica Bank
Join the reserve list for a table in 2027 Contact beth@medianett.co.uk and ellen@medianett.co.uk
Backstory
R
RUSSELL ANDERSON
ussell Anderson, Together’s chief strategy officer, was previously commercial director at Paragon Bank and has 24 years’ experience in banking. He discusses mastering mortgages, making portfolio life easier, clearing mental clutter and the pirate in the family
Specialist lending is still mortgages. Every bank or lender has similar departments, challenges and languages (or jargon). The mindset shift is about flexibility, speed and designing propositions for nuanced segments without losing the basics.
What drew you to Together? I had worked with Richard [Rowntree, Together CEO] before, so there was a foundation of trust. When I met the team, I was struck by the passion, energy and like-mindedness. It felt entrepreneurial, can do and customer and partner focused. The culture and capability still match what I felt during those early conversations.
Did you always plan to go into finance? I stumbled into banking. I didn’t go to university and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I grew up working hard from a young age, helping in the family fruit and veg shop, then moved into various sales roles because I enjoyed talking to customers and solving problems. One day I saw an advert in the local paper for a customer account manager at HFC Bank. Within six months, my manager left. I went to the regional manager and said, “Give me a go. I’ll run the branch.” We took the two branches for which I was responsible to the top of the tables because of our focus on customer outcomes. As well as providing unsecured loans, I learnt to package secured loans in branch. Often that meant a better rate and option for homebuyers, so I taught myself and my team to package and underwrite. Doing the harder, more complex work for better customer outcomes helped our branches grow fast. From there, HFC was acquired by HSBC. I was offered a retail branch role within HSBC but I took a different route. I walked into Lloyds Bank in Gloucester and was connected with the head of mortgages. He then called me for an interview, offered me the role and the rest is history.
As Chief Strategy Officer, what changes are you driving? A key focus is elevating product adjacencies. One example is our multi-property proposition for portfolio landlords. Instead of multiple facilities, landlords have one consolidated mortgage account; we take an aggregated view of the portfolio’s LTV. It’s straightforward, giving professional landlords simplicity and velocity while keeping underwriting discipline intact. As for the long term, we are strengthening distribution by deepening relationships with partners who operate at scale in our segments. Since I came in, we have formed cross-functional mini squads, which look at speeding up decisions, clarifying requirements and improving broker and customer journeys. Finally, we’re exploring areas where certain demographics are underserved by mainstream lenders.
What is the biggest difference in mindset between mainstream and specialist finance?
Specialist finance is famously relationship-driven. How are you cultivating partnerships?
In the mainstream, you see more standard profiles; in specialist, you’re often dealing with complex customers, properties or timelines. The job is to simplify complexity fast.
Since joining Together, I’ve reconnected with long-standing contacts, met new distribution partners and focused on how we can help them grow. Because Together offers a breadth of products and as I’ve worked across many of those spaces, we can open doors. A conversation with a partner might start around one product then expand.
If you were stuck on a desert island with only one meal and one drink for life, what’s on the menu? For one drink, I’d go for a Henry, which is orange juice and lemonade. Food-wise, I would go for a panang curry, as it would take me back to visiting Thailand.
If you hadn’t gone into finance, what job would you have done? I’ve always been drawn to sales, but part of me also wanted to be a lawyer. Either way, it would have been a customer-facing, problem-solving role.
Tell me something about you that none of your colleagues know Two fun bits of family history: I’m a quarter Lebanese through my grandmother, and my great-great-great-great grandfather, Captain Culliford , was a pirate who sailed with Captain Kidd.
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Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give yourself back on day 1? Be yourself and clear the clutter. I spent energy worrying—“Did I phrase that email right? They haven’t replied…” or “What will someone think?” You can waste a lot of time on hypothetical problems. Back yourself, focus on excellent service and put your energy into what moves outcomes. Working in the family shop and sales roles taught me the basics: turn up, work hard, be accountable and enjoy serving customers.
Choosing the right commercial lender shouldn’t be one of them. Commercial lending backed by OSB Group. Intermediaries only.