The Client: An experienced property developer and landlord.

The Project: A large house in a Devon seaside town with planning permission to convert it into four holiday flats.

The Challenge: The developer had already arranged some finance with a lender to enable him to start the project but required further funds in order to finish it. He had found a mezzanine funder that was willing to help but as the cost of this facility severely eroded his profit margin he approached me to see if I could find a more cost effective solution.

The Solution: I suggested he raise a second charge mortgage on a buy to let property he owned (not the Devon house). This property already had a modest BTL mortgage on it with a very low historic Standard Variable Rate, and it made more sense to raise the second charge than remortgage. The second charge was considerably cheaper than the mezzanine finance he had found.