Leicester Commercial Mortgage Case Studies

Associate buying out a retiring principal on Allandale Road, freehold and goodwill in a single facility.

£780K facility at 70% combined LTV, 6.9% pa

• Funded by Lloyds healthcare, 6.9% pa
• Combined freehold and goodwill facility, 15-year term
• Completed in eleven weeks from initial enquiry

An associate dentist on Allandale Road came to us with a six-month window to complete the buy-out of the retiring principal of the practice she had worked in for four years. The deal needed to fund the freehold premises (a converted period semi on a strong residential parade), the NHS contract value, and the goodwill of the patient list, all in a single facility. Two clearing banks had quoted at 65 percent LTV with separate freehold and goodwill products, which would have left the borrower short on equity and slowed completion. We packaged the case for Lloyds healthcare, who underwrites combined freehold-plus-goodwill on owner-occupied dental practices with a CQC-registered principal taking the buy-out. The pack included two years of associate income, the practice accounts, the CQC inspection report (rated Good), the NHS contract schedule, and a goodwill valuation from a healthcare-specialist surveyor alongside the RICS Red Book freehold valuation. Credit committee approved at 70 percent combined LTV on a 15-year capital-and-interest facility at 6.9 percent pa, with a 25 percent personal guarantee cap. The borrower's deposit came from accumulated associate income and a family gift declared in writing. Completion ran eleven weeks from initial enquiry, with the RICS valuation taking eighteen working days and the legal pack three further weeks. The practice continued trading uninterrupted through the change of ownership and the new principal extended the NHS contract within six months of completion.

Area: Stoneygate

Sheet-metal fabricator acquiring an 11,500 sq ft industrial freehold off Braunstone Frith Industrial Estate.

£1.18M facility at 75% LTV, 7.1% pa

• Funded by Lloyds, 7.1% pa, 15-year capital-and-interest
• Replaced a leased unit with annualised rent of £92,000
• Personal guarantee negotiated from 30% to 20% of facility

A long-established sheet-metal fabricator on Braunstone Frith Industrial Estate had outgrown its leased unit and identified an 11,500 sq ft freehold on the same estate at £1.575M. The directors wanted to replace an annual rent of £92,000 with an owner-occupied mortgage at sensible LTV. The business had three years of clean filed accounts, retained profit covering the deposit, and a strong order book with two automotive supply contracts. We benchmarked the deal across four lender desks: two clearing banks, one challenger and one specialist. Lloyds and a challenger both quoted at 75 percent LTV, with Lloyds pricing 30 basis points tighter at 7.1 percent pa on a 15-year capital-and-interest fixed-amortisation term loan. We packaged the credit submission with three years of audited accounts, current management figures, the lease comparison showing the rent-to-mortgage saving, the customer-concentration analysis on the automotive contracts, and the RICS Red Book valuation. Approval at credit committee took ten working days from valuation sign-off. The personal guarantee was originally pitched at 30 percent of facility; we negotiated it down to 20 percent on the strength of the trading record and the modest LTV. Completion ran six weeks from indicative terms. The business saved roughly £36,000 a year in net property cost in year one and built equity into the asset rather than the landlord.

Area: Braunstone

Investor with four converted hosiery warehouses around Halford Street refinancing off three short-dated facilities onto a single five-year portfolio loan.

£2.6M facility at 65% LTV, blended 7.4% pa

• Funded by Shawbrook, 7.4% pa blended, 5-year fix
• Single facility replacing three short-dated commercial loans
• Released c.£140K of equity for the next acquisition

A Leicester investor owned four converted hosiery warehouses around Halford Street and Rutland Street, each let to a creative SME tenant on five-to-ten-year leases. The buildings sat across three separate commercial mortgages from two legacy lenders, all of which had come off fixed periods and were running at variable rates 200 basis points above the current market. We packaged a portfolio refinance to consolidate the four assets onto a single facility. The Cultural Quarter heritage character helped the file: stable mixed tenant base, strong rental tone (16 to 20 pounds per sq ft on converted warehouse stock), and assets that hold value through cycles. Shawbrook quoted at 65 percent LTV on the blended portfolio valuation, a 5-year fixed rate at 7.4 percent pa blended, on a 20-year amortising profile. We ran the alternatives across LendInvest and InterBay Commercial, both quoting 25 to 40 basis points wider at the same LTV. The Shawbrook offer included a 5-year ERC structure (5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 percent of outstanding balance), no early-overpayment penalty on 10 percent annual capital, and an all-monies cross-default across the four assets. Completion ran nine weeks from indicative terms; the critical path was the RICS Red Book valuations on the four assets, completed in parallel by a single East Midlands valuer with prior experience on the same stock. The refinance released approximately £140,000 of equity for the next acquisition.

Area: Cultural Quarter

Long-established Belgrave Road jeweller buying the freehold of the premises it has leased for twenty years.

£840K facility at 60% LTV, 7.6% pa

• Funded by Shawbrook, 7.6% pa, 15-year term
• Released the family from a rolling 5-yearly rent review cycle
• Two clean trading years carried the file at sub-65% LTV

A family jeweller trading from a Belgrave Road shop since 2003 came to us when the landlord put the freehold up for sale at £1.4M. The family had twenty years of trading history but the recent two years showed the cleanest accounts after a difficult 2022, with margins recovering and a measurable lift from the 2024 and 2025 Diwali trading windows. Clearing banks were cautious on the cash-heavy jewellery trade and on Belgrave Road retail generally. We packaged the case for Shawbrook, who underwrites cash-intensive retail when the trading record, audited accounts and AML chain are clean. The pack included two full years of audited accounts, a six-month projection, a detailed cash-handling and stock-management protocol, a stock-insurance schedule, the freehold sale memorandum, and a personal financial summary on the two directors. The RICS Red Book valuation came in at the asking price of £1.4M, supported by comparables from three further Belgrave Road parade sales in the prior eighteen months. Shawbrook approved at 60 percent LTV, a 15-year capital-and-interest term at 7.6 percent pa, with a 30 percent personal guarantee shared between the two directors. Completion ran seven weeks from indicative terms. The family released themselves from a rolling five-yearly rent review cycle that had moved their lease cost up 18 percent over the previous decade, and locked in the cost of their own premises.

Area: Belgrave Road

Owner-occupier moving a recently completed 12,000 sq ft Meridian office off a development loan onto a long-term commercial mortgage.

£2.1M facility at 65% LTV, 7.0% pa

• Funded by NatWest, 7.0% pa, 15-year capital-and-interest
• Termed out a development facility within six weeks of practical completion
• Locked in cost of capital at sub-7.0% pa on a Grade A Meridian floorplate

A growing East Midlands professional services firm had completed the development of a 12,000 sq ft self-contained office on Meridian Business Park as its new headquarters. The build was funded by a 24-month development facility with a specialist lender at a rate 200 basis points above the long-term market. The development practical completion certificate landed in February and the firm wanted to term out within ninety days to remove the development-loan interest cost and lock in long-term pricing. We benchmarked the refinance across three clearing banks and one challenger. NatWest commercial banking offered the keenest terms at 65 percent LTV on a 15-year capital-and-interest mortgage at 7.0 percent pa, with a five-year fixed-rate period. The credit pack included three years of practice accounts, the development cost summary, the practical completion certificate, an RICS Red Book valuation on the completed building at £3.25M, and an EBITDA cover analysis at 1.6 times the monthly mortgage payment. Approval ran within ten working days of valuation sign-off; the refinance completed six weeks after practical completion of the building. The firm now occupies a Grade A Meridian floorplate at a known long-term cost of capital below 7.0 percent pa, with the equity in the asset recycling on its balance sheet rather than paying away to development-loan interest.

Area: Meridian

Partnership buying a 3,200 sq ft Georgian townhouse on New Walk for own occupation, replacing a serviced office contract.

£615K facility at 75% LTV, 6.9% pa

• Funded by NatWest, 6.9% pa, 20-year capital-and-interest
• Replaced a serviced office contract with rising annual escalators
• Indicative terms back within 36 hours of the first call

A two-partner accountancy practice based in a New Walk serviced office had outgrown the floor it occupied and the annual rent review cycle had pushed the running cost up 22 percent over five years. The partners identified a 3,200 sq ft Georgian townhouse on the same stretch of New Walk at £820,000, which they wanted to purchase for own occupation with the option to sub-let a small first-floor suite to a neighbouring surveying practice. We packaged the case for NatWest commercial banking, who underwrites professional services owner-occupier deals competitively across the New Walk professional services spine. The credit pack included three years of partnership accounts, individual partners' personal tax returns, the current serviced office contract cost analysis, a six-month operating projection, and the RICS Red Book valuation. The valuation came in at £820,000 against the offer price, supported by comparables from three other New Walk townhouse sales in the prior twenty-four months. NatWest approved at 75 percent LTV on a 20-year capital-and-interest term mortgage at 6.9 percent pa, with a five-year fixed rate period. EBITDA cover modelled at 1.7 times the monthly payment, comfortable for the underwriter. Indicative terms came back within 36 hours of the first call; completion ran seven weeks. The practice swapped a rising serviced office cost for a known long-term mortgage payment and started building equity into the asset.

Area: New Walk

Private investor acquiring a four-unit parade on Bell Street Wigston with three flats above.

£910K facility at 70% LTV, 7.5% pa, gross yield 8.6%

• Funded by InterBay Commercial, 7.5% pa, 5-year fix
• Gross yield 8.6% across four commercial units and three flats
• Blended residential and commercial valuation

A private investor with a five-property portfolio across Leicestershire identified a four-unit retail parade on Bell Street Wigston with three flats above, offered at £1.3M. The commercial units were let to a pharmacy, a coffee shop, an opticians and a dry cleaner, all on 6 to 10 year leases with five-yearly rent reviews. The three flats above ran at full market rent on assured shorthold tenancies. We packaged the deal as a semi-commercial investment, taxed entirely on the non-residential rates because the commercial element was genuine. Combined gross rent across the seven tenancies was £112,000 a year against the asking price, a gross yield of 8.6 percent. The structure went into the investor's existing SPV with three other assets. We placed the case with InterBay Commercial, who is consistently competitive on semi-commercial mixed-use in the Leicestershire commuter belt. InterBay quoted at 70 percent LTV on a 5-year fix at 7.5 percent pa on a 20-year amortisation profile. ICR cover modelled at 165 percent stressed at a notional rate 1.5 percent above the pay rate. The RICS Red Book valuation came in at £1.305M, supported by a blended residential-and-commercial methodology and comparables from three other Oadby and Wigston parade sales in the prior eighteen months. Completion ran six weeks from indicative terms. The investor added a clean income line of £8,400 a month gross rent against a monthly mortgage payment of £5,650.

Area: Wigston

Investor with three Frog Island light industrial units refinancing off individual loans onto a single portfolio commercial mortgage.

£1.45M facility at 70% LTV, 7.3% pa

• Funded by LendInvest, 7.3% pa, 5-year fix
• Single facility replacing three legacy commercial loans
• Released roughly £85K of equity for the next Waterside acquisition

A Leicester investor owned three small light-industrial units on Frog Island, each between 2,000 and 4,500 sq ft, let to local trades on three-to-five-year leases. The three units sat across two legacy lenders on individual commercial mortgages, all of which had moved onto variable rates 175 basis points above the current Waterside market. The investor wanted a single portfolio refinance to simplify the monthly servicing and to release modest equity for the next acquisition along the canal-side regeneration footprint. We packaged the case across three specialist desks. LendInvest came back keenest at 70 percent LTV on the blended portfolio valuation of £2.07M, a 5-year fix at 7.3 percent pa on a 20-year amortising profile. Shawbrook and InterBay Commercial both quoted 20 to 30 basis points wider at the same LTV. The LendInvest offer included a 10 percent annual overpayment allowance free of penalty inside the fix period, which the investor specifically wanted as a route to deleverage if rents grow as expected through the Waterside regeneration delivery. The credit pack included the three leases, tenant covenant pack, two years of rent collection history, the SPV company accounts, and three RICS Red Book valuations completed by a single East Midlands valuer in parallel. Completion ran eight weeks from indicative terms. The refinance released £85,000 of equity, which the investor earmarked for a fourth Waterside unit identified off-market.

Area: Waterside

Cafe operator buying the freehold of a Queens Road unit it has leased for six years.

£455K facility at 65% LTV, 7.5% pa

• Funded by Cynergy Bank, 7.5% pa, 15-year capital-and-interest
• Refurb capex tranche of £35K held back for first-year fit-out improvements
• Six years of trading record on the same address carried the case

An independent cafe operator on Queens Road in Clarendon Park had built a six-year trading record on a leased unit when the landlord put the freehold on the market at £700,000. The operator wanted to buy the freehold and run a modest refurbishment in year one to upgrade the kitchen extraction, replace the front shopfront and improve the seating layout. The business showed two clean trading years post-pandemic with margins in the upper quartile for independent cafe and a customer base anchored by Clarendon Park residents and the university student population. We packaged the case for Cynergy Bank, who underwrites independent food-and-beverage owner-occupier in the Leicester independent retail belt. The pack included the leasehold trading history, two full audited years post-pandemic, current management accounts, the supplier and stock-handling protocol, the refurbishment cost plan, and the freehold sale memorandum. The RICS Red Book valuation came in at £695,000, fractionally below the asking price, supported by comparables across Clarendon Park, Queens Road and Montague Road. Cynergy approved at 65 percent LTV on the freehold valuation, a 15-year capital-and-interest term at 7.5 percent pa, with a £35,000 capex tranche held back to be released in year one against contractor invoices. Completion ran seven weeks from indicative terms. The operator removed the rent line from the P&L, locked in a known monthly mortgage payment, and held a modest capex pot for the planned upgrades.

Area: Clarendon Park

Investor adding two mixed-use East Park Road units, each with two flats above, to a six-property portfolio.

£610K facility at 70% LTV, blended 7.7% pa

• Funded by InterBay Commercial, 7.7% pa blended, 5-year fix
• Two units added to an existing six-property SPV portfolio
• Solid trading evidence on the two commercial tenants carried sub-65% pure-commercial LTV pricing

A Leicester investor with a six-property semi-commercial portfolio identified two mixed-use units on East Park Road, each with two flats above the commercial unit, offered together at £870,000. The two commercial tenants were a long-established halal butcher and a convenience store, both on six-year leases with two years run. The four flats above ran at full market rent on assured shorthold tenancies. Combined gross rent across the six tenancies was £67,000 a year. The deal added cleanly to the investor's existing SPV with InterBay Commercial as the incumbent lender, which simplified the structure and underwriting. We packaged the case as an extension of the existing facility. InterBay Commercial quoted at 70 percent LTV on the blended portfolio valuation, a 5-year fix at 7.7 percent pa blended across the two new assets, on a 20-year amortising profile. The pure-commercial LTV on the ground-floor units sat below 65 percent given the residential weight in the valuation methodology, which helped the rate. The credit pack included two years of rent collection on the two commercial tenancies, AML and trading-business evidence on both ground-floor operators, the four AST records for the flats, the SPV company accounts and the RICS Red Book valuation. ICR cover modelled at 158 percent stressed. Completion ran nine weeks from indicative terms because the legal pack required two title splits and CPSE replies on both buildings. The investor added £67,000 a year of gross rent against a monthly mortgage payment of £4,070.

Area: Highfields