A property investor in the West Midlands, faced a deadline to buy a plot of land, which already had planning permission to build a residential property, but he found he was nearly £50,000 short of the purchase price.
He already owned a buy-to-let property in Walsall, and had paid off the mortgage for the £70,000 two-bedroom flat, so he approached Together to see whether he could raise funds against this property to press ahead with building on the land to expand his buy-to-let portfolio.
The seller had imposed a deadline on exchanging contracts for the land, so he needed the finance in place quickly to fund his latest venture.
Having worked with us before, the customer knew our reputation for speed and service and brought the case to us. Our team of dedicated buy-to-let underwriters looked into the application and the customer’s background, and discovered a credit black mark on his file. They spoke to the customer, who explained that this had been caused by a period when he’d been in hospital after battling cancer.
However, because he’d been paying the account for the past four years, and had an otherwise satisfactory credit report, we agreed to provide the loan for £46,600 at 75 per cent loan-to-value (LTV). This worked out cheaper than him taking out a commercial development loan, which would have proved unaffordable in his circumstances. Now he has the money in place, as well as planning permission to build on the land, he’ll be able to move forward with his latest project.
This case clearly illustrates how lenders showing a degree of flexibility and taking the customers’ individual circumstances into account can really deliver results.
