Commercial mortgages for Devon business buyers, landlords and operators.

How commercial property mortgages work: the broker, the bank and the borrower explained.

A commercial mortgage is a long-term commercial loan secured against income-producing or owner-occupied commercial property. Offices on Marsh Barton, an EX8 shop-with-flat on Exmouth seafront, a Sowton trade-counter, a Torbay care home, a Plymouth waterfront warehouse, an Exeter dental surgery, plus the occasional house in multiple occupation (HMO) block in the EX4 Pennsylvania and St James student belt. The product is fundamentally different to a buy to let: banks and creditors test the property's rental income or the business's EBITDA against the monthly payment, not your personal salary. The headline metric is the loan-to-value ratio (LTV, typically 60-75% of property value), backed by DSCR or ICR on investment deals and EBITDA cover on owner-occupier deals. Repayment is usually capital-and-interest over 15-25 years, with interest-only options for prime investment loans over 5-10 years.

The market splits into three tiers. High street commercial desks (NatWest, Lloyds, Barclays, Santander, HSBC) price the sharpest competitive rates on prime owner-occupier and prime investment but operate within narrow credit boxes. Challenger banks (Allica, Shawbrook, HTB, Cambridge & Counties, Aldermore, Cynergy Bank, OakNorth, YBS Commercial) cover the bulk of the SME and mid-market segment, often with more flexibility for limited companies, SPVs, and borrowers with shorter trading history. Specialist creditors (InterBay Commercial, LendInvest, Together, Hampshire Trust Bank) take the trickier semi-commercial, mixed-use, HMO-block and short-lease investment cases. We work all three tiers on every deal.

Borrowing structures vary by buyer. Limited companies (trading or SPV) hold the majority of investment property finance. Owner-occupiers borrow either as the trading company or as a separate property-holding SPV with an intercompany lease, with the structure picked for tax efficiency in consultation with your accountant and solicitor. Five-year and ten-year fixed rates dominate prime investment; trading-business deals usually price on a 5-year fixed inside a 20-year term. Mid-2026 rates run 6.0-9.0% pa on term lending, with commercial bridging at 0.70-0.95% pm, and a 5-year SONIA-linked fix at SWAP+2% for prime portfolios. A bridge from LendInvest or Shawbrook can short-cut a tight completion window where a term mortgage will follow on refinance.

Beyond rate, the deal economics depend on bank fees (arrangement 1.0-2.0% of facility, valuation £1.5K-£8K depending on asset complexity, legals £4K-£15K), stamp duty (commercial SDLT bands), and the broker fee where applicable. We work on a transparent commission model: the bank pays us a procuration fee on completion (typically 0.5-1.0%), and on larger or complex deals we may charge a client fee disclosed up front. Where the borrower is a private individual buying a regulated semi-commercial property (residential element occupied by the borrower) the deal sits inside the FCA’s regulated mortgage perimeter; we are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for that, so we refer to a regulated firm. Pure commercial deals (every product on this page) are unregulated and do not require FCA permissions.

A typical enquiry runs: free 20-minute consultation, indicative terms inside 48 hours from three to five banks, a heads-of-terms letter from the chosen creditor inside two weeks, valuation and legal pack in parallel, formal offer at four to six weeks, completion at six to eight weeks. The critical-path item is almost always the RICS Red Book valuation, which is why we line the valuer up in week one. A solicitor picked from a panel familiar with the bank's reporting requirements shaves a week off the legal stage. Send us the property details and trading or rental position and we will model the deal bank-by-bank before you put down a deposit.

A few practical notes for Devon business owners and property investors. We routinely model fixed and variable rate options side by side, because the right answer depends on your hold horizon: a 5-year fixed at 6.85% suits a buy-and-hold landlord; a SONIA-tracker at base rate +3.25% suits an investor planning to refinance or sell inside 24 months. Mortgage repayments on a £1M facility at 7.0% over 20 years run roughly £7,750 per month capital-and-interest, or £5,830 interest-only, useful sanity checks before the calculator. Across our mortgage products we cover term loans, commercial remortgages, bridging finance, semi-commercial and second-charge facilities, plus business loans secured against trading-asset value where the property element is too thin. Beyond the mortgage we can talk through wider finance options for business growth, asset finance for plant and vehicles in tandem with the premise purchase, and refinance strategy where a maturing facility risks dropping LTV before a planned sale. The specialist mortgage market for Devon-headquartered limited companies and SPVs holding investment properties is deep enough that a fast-moving deal can usually find a home, even where the high-street commercial desk has declined.

Cost and process notes worth knowing up front. Stamp duty on commercial purchases runs on a separate non-residential SDLT scale, 0% to £150K, 2% £150-£250K, 5% above £250K, and we will model it into the deal so you do not get caught at completion. Conveyancing for a commercial purchase costs £4K-£15K depending on title complexity and bank reporting requirements; for an Exeter office or an EX8 shop-with-flat we recommend solicitors who already act for the chosen creditor, which shaves a week off the title-investigation phase. Credit appetite responds heavily to clean credit history for the trading company and the directors, and to professional valuation on the asset: a sloppy desktop valuation report can drop your LTV by 5%-10%, so we always push for full RICS Red Book on commercial property.

On regulation: commercial mortgages are unregulated lending under UK law and we are not a credit broker authorised under the FCA's consumer credit regime, because the borrowers we deal with are limited companies, partnerships and SPVs rather than private individuals. Where the deal would require FCA permission (regulated semi-commercial occupied by the borrower, regulated bridging, a residential mortgage) we refer to a regulated firm and document the referral. The footer of every page on this site spells out the regulatory perimeter in full. If you are unsure whether your deal sits inside or outside the regulated mortgage perimeter, ring the broker mainline listed in the header and footer and we will tell you within five minutes, no obligation, no fee.

For Devon buyers looking for a commercial mortgage on business premises or commercial premises, the starting point is honest mortgage advice on what the deal will actually support. We talk through the commercial mortgage process end to end: the initial enquiry, the mortgage application, the lender's lending criteria, the valuation, and completion. Commercial mortgages are available across owner-occupier, investment and trading-business cases. Whether you are buying your trading premises, need to finance a property for business use, or are remortgaging an existing facility as rates rise, the route is similar. We benchmark UK lenders and independent mortgage desks to find the best deal for the asset, and we are clear up front about the best rates a given covenant and LTV will reach. Local knowledge of the Exeter and Devon market helps: we know which lenders price keenly on Devon property, from Exeter buyers acquiring city-centre offices to operators across the wider county. Mortgage rates for commercial property move with the swaps market, so the live number matters more than any headline.

Commercial mortgages are used across the full spread of residential and commercial assets, from pure commercial properties to semi-commercial buildings with a residential property element above. Alongside term commercial property mortgages, we arrange bridging loans for auction purchases and tight completions, competitive commercial mortgage rates for owner-occupier and investment buyers, and second-charge facilities for additional borrowing or access to funds against existing equity. A buy to let mortgage on a single residential unit is a different, regulated product we do not arrange. At the end of the term, an investment facility is typically remortgaged or repaid on sale. Where a deal needs additional security, we can structure a cross-charge over another trading premises or a new property to strengthen the mortgage deal and secure mortgages a single-asset case could not reach on its own. Many UK commercial finance brokers, including specialist UK desks, belong to the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB), the association of commercial finance brokers that sets conduct standards for the sector.

Quick glossary. Commercial mortgage: long-term loan secured against commercial property, typically 60-75% LTV, capital-and-interest over 15-25 years. Mortgage broker: intermediary who places the deal across multiple banks rather than tying you to one. Buy to let: residential investment loan, a different product not covered here. Bridge / bridging loan: short-term commercial loan, 3-24 months, used to bridge a sale, refurbishment or planning approval. Owner-occupier: a business buying the property it trades from. Commercial investment: buying or refinancing let commercial property. Loan-to-value ratio (LTV): loan size as a percentage of property value. ICR: rent ÷ interest, typically tested at 140%-160%. DSCR: rent ÷ full mortgage payment, typically tested at 130%-145%. EBITDA cover: trading profit ÷ mortgage payment, typically 1.3x-1.5x on owner-occupier. Procuration fee: commission the bank pays the broker on completion, 0.5%-1.0%. SDLT: Stamp Duty Land Tax, on a separate commercial scale. FCA: Financial Conduct Authority, which does not regulate commercial mortgages.