Limited Company Buy to Let

Limited company buy to let: mortgage offer in just 3 days

Our client was buying a property through a limited company rather than in a personal name, a route increasingly used by landlords, but one that lives or dies on finding a lender genuinely set up for it. On top of that, they needed the case to move fast.

We took the application from submission to formal SPV mortgage offer in just 3 days, against a purchase price already sitting £10,000 below the property’s valuation.

The scenario

Our client structured the purchase as an SPV (special purpose vehicle) transaction through a limited company, rather than buying in a personal name. The purchase price was £90,000, against a property valuation of £100,000. That meant built-in equity from day one, but the deal still needed a lender comfortable with both the company structure and the below-market purchase price.

The challenges

1. Lender fit for SPV structure. Not every lender treats limited company applications the same way as a personal-name purchase. The case needed a lender genuinely geared up for SPV underwriting, not one where the structure would slow the process down.
2. A fast turnaround requirement. The client needed the application to move quickly, in a market where SPV cases often take longer than personal-name applications to reach offer.
3. Below-market purchase price. With the purchase price sitting £10,000 below the property’s valuation, the case needed a lender comfortable that the price reflected genuine value, not a distressed or undervalued sale.
4. Standard SPV documentation requirements. Limited company applications typically require company accounts, memorandum and articles of association, and director identification alongside the usual mortgage paperwork, all of which needed gathering and submitting without adding delay.

The solution

We placed the case with a lender experienced in underwriting SPV mortgages, rather than one for whom limited company applications are an exception to standard process. That fit meant the below-market purchase price and company structure were assessed efficiently rather than triggering extra rounds of queries, and the full set of SPV documentation was gathered and submitted upfront to keep the case moving.

The outcome

Working with a lender geared up for limited company buy to let lending, the case moved from submission to formal mortgage offer in only 3 days, considerably faster than the standard turnaround landlords often expect on an SPV application.

Frequently asked questions