Commercial mortgage for new holiday let and glamping business

The clients: A married couple working full-time within a local council in Wales.

Looking for a change in lifestyle, the pair had set their sights on a large holiday let in a picturesque village not far from their current place of residence.

Both husband and wife planned to quit their day jobs, move into the holiday let and run it as a business. The couple were owners of a small holiday let in the late 90’s, but have no experience in running a large holiday let complex.

The property: An 1800’s six-bed detached house valued at £700,000. The impressive property comes with 73.8 acres of land, a cart house, stone barn, stable block, two Dutch barns, loose cattle shed and kennels.

The current owners were letting a large portion of the land to local farmers – this agreement would continue with the new owners.

Prior to launching their holiday let business, the couple wanted to make some improvements – including the construction of two glamping pods. The pair estimated the works would take around 12 months to complete. During this time, they planned to live off savings, rental income from the farmers and the surplus from the sale of their home.

The finance: The sale of the couple’s home would give them a deposit of £350,000 and leave them with enough to live off for the foreseeable future.
There were numerous challenges with this case which would restrict the number of finance options available. We needed to source finance from a lender which would accept:

• Applicants with limited experience. Most lenders require applicants to have experience in running holiday lets of similar scale.
• A new holiday let business. Lending would need to be based on projections. Most lenders require current trading figures.
• Owner’s accommodation on site. Lenders tend to be more cautious with these types of transactions.
• No proof of deposit. The couple were unable to provide proof of deposit until the sale of their home went through.
• Applicants no longer employed. The applicants would only be in receipt of income from the holiday let business and rental income from the farmers.
• Tight timescale. The vendor had requested that the transaction complete within two months.

The application process: Before we approached a lender, we helped the couple put together a business plan. The plan included details of the estate agent who would be assisting the couple in sourcing tenants and the projected rental income of £89,635 per year (minimum).

We sat down with a business development manager from one of the high street lenders and discussed the case. Happy with the couple’s savings, business plan and report from the local estate agents an offer was made within one month.

The case is expected to complete shortly.

Here are the details of the deal:

Property Details

Property value: £650,000

Loan amount: £300,000

LTV: 43% LTV

Rate: 3.99%

Term: 25 years capital & interest

Mortgage payment: £997pcm

Lender arrangement fee: 2% of the loan amount added to the loan

Consultant: Peter Barnes, 01732 471641

 

8 FAQs about holiday let mortgages

19th June 2018