
Ltd Company Purchase and Re-Finance for Portfolio Landlord During Lockdown
The Client: An experienced portfolio landlord with eight buy to let properties, owned in both his personal name and his SPV Limited Company. Besides being a professional landlord, he was also self-employed.
The Properties: The client’s portfolio consisted of a mixture of two and three bedroomed, terraced and semi-detached houses in Scotland. He had made improvements to all them since purchase which had increased their overall value.
The Finance: After consulting his accountant, the client wanted to move his five personally owned properties into his SPV, as it would be more tax-efficient for him. The client needed to purchase the properties through his SVP, through regular sale and purchase transactions. At the same time, he was also looking to refinance the three properties already owned under the SPV, to release capital for further property investments.
The Challenge: Although we had started the finance process before the official COVID-19 lockdown, valuing some of the properties was logistically more difficult than usual as some of the tenants had already started self-isolating. When full lockdown restrictions came in, there were still properties to be valued, causing a delay to the cases. At this point, the client had also found a new property which he wished to purchase, which made the need to complete the refinancing process and release funds was now time-critical to secure the new purchase in time!
The Solution: As everyone adjusted to lockdown and working from home, we liaised with the lender to find a way forward with the cases. Fortunately, the lender was quick to set up desktop valuations, and with the client’s desire to make a further purchase, we worked with them to get the properties valued remotely as soon as possible. Once the lender finished the desktop valuations, we were able to complete the purchases and remortgages, releasing the funds needed for the client to secure his next investment which we are currently working on.
Here are the details: