The Premier Approach To Complex Property Lending
Scott Clay, Director of Premier at Together on how a relationship-led approach to specialist lending is enabling high-net-worth clients navigate complex property purchases confidently
Together’s Premier Service is designed for a high-net-worth client. How would you describe the Premier offering and approach, and what sets it apart from more traditional mortgage offerings?
Together’s Premier is a relationship-led service exclusively for High-Net-Worth (HNW) clients such as company directors, entrepreneurs and business owners. We provide large mortgages and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated bridging loans to clients with complex incomes, which can usually be provided to very tight deadlines.
We have bespoke products that can allow house buyers or downsizers to purchase their next home, before their current property sells, to make sure they don’t miss out on buying their dream home. Together also offers more traditional, larger mortgages to those with complex incomes or who are buying large, unique homes that may have outbuildings, large acreage or equestrian facilities.
How does your team assess affordability for borrowers with multiple income streams, assets or unconventional earnings?
A lot of our clients have multiple income streams as they may be a director of numerous companies, for example, which can cause a headache for high street lenders using automated processes to assess affordability for a mortgage. They may also not be able to include income such as bonus payments, in their affordability calculations. We can include slightly more unconventional earnings, for instance, dividend payments, drawings against a director’s loan account, pension income or rent from a property portfolio, among many others. We can even use projected income, verified by an accountant, to determine affordability. Our bespoke underwriting means that we can look into the applicant’s income in its entirety.
Regulated bridging loans are increasingly important tools. In what situations do these solutions work best for Together Premier clients?
Bridging loans are not the complex financial product many people think they are. Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), they are short-term loans typically lasting up to twelve months and secured against your home (much like a mortgage). The difference is that bridging loans can be arranged much quicker than a traditional mortgage – often in weeks rather than months – and are more flexible in terms of how they can be used.
Homeowners can take out a bridging loan to buy a new property before their current one sells, for renovations, or to pay an unexpected tax bill, for example. Although interest is charged on the bridging loan, the client doesn’t pay monthly payments; the total loan (plus interest and charges) is paid in full at the end of its term. If the borrower wants to pay early, they don’t face Early Repayment Charges (ERCs) like they tend to with a mortgage.
Lending figures provided by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) showed the number of regulated bridging loans at an all-time high in the first quarter of last year. We believe this was fuelled by increases to stamp duty, but also part of a wider story of this kind of short-term finance becoming increasingly popular. The market was worth about £1.8billion in 2025, compared to £1.6billion the previous year.
Can you share an example of how Together Premier has helped a client achieve a particularly ambitious or complex property purchase?
We see many clients taking out bridging loans to buy a new house before their current house is sold. It means that the client can be totally sure of securing their dream home, which is a huge advantage for prestigious properties in popular locations. We will always see demand for high-end properties in exclusive parts of Cheshire and using a bridging loan can give the buyer the edge on rivals when it comes to buying a dream home. Using a bridging loan, they effectively turn themselves into a ‘cash buyer’ and this may put them in a better position to negotiate a discount on the price with the seller, with the savings on the eventual price they pay covering some of the interest costs associated with the bridging loan.
For example, we helped a retired couple achieve their ambition of downsizing from their £1million farmhouse and equestrian centre in Cheshire to their ‘forever home’, a new-build property near one of the UK’s leading equestrian centres. They wanted to be nearer their grandchildren in a modern new-build and easy-to-maintain property, without having the burden of running a farm.
There was fierce competition for the farmhouse where they’d lived for more than 30 years, so they knew they would be able to sell it, but the chain they were in collapsed when their buyer pulled out unexpectedly. They had already paid a deposit for the new-build home and had agreed a discount from the house-builder if they completed quickly. The retired couple approached us for a loan to ‘bridge the gap’ between buying their new house and selling the farm. The regulated bridging loan repaired the broken housing chain and allowed the couple to move into their forever home. The farm then sold quickly, meaning they could pay back the bridging loan.
Trust and relationships are central to wealth management. How does Together work alongside brokers, advisers and other professionals to deliver a seamless experience for clients?
My typical day is spent building relationships. I could be visiting high-end estate agents in Cheshire in the morning and spending time with a growing network of trusted partners, such as accountants or solicitors in the afternoon. We work in partnership with them all to get the best possible outcomes for Together’s Premier clients.
Our customers could be an accountant’s client looking to release equity from their home or business through a bridging loan, to buy a second home or to pay a tax bill, or an estate agent who has a client with a complex income, seeking a mortgage to buy a £2million home in Cheshire. We have our own in-house solicitors and work closely with trusted valuers to make sure the journey is as seamless as possible.
Together has been arranging specialist finance for more than 50 years, so we have a great deal of knowledge and experience across our teams.
Looking ahead, what do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges for high-value borrowers in today’s property market, and how is Together positioned to support them?
A serious challenge is the proposed ‘mansion tax’ on properties worth more than £2 million announced by the Chancellor in the last Budget. We believe it’s unfair that by 2028, thousands of homeowners will have to pay an annual charge just for the privilege of living in the home they already own.
Many recent buyers have already paid for the property, plus stamp duty, and now face an extra annual surcharge on top of council tax and mortgage payments. It’s unlikely the government will carry out any affordability checks, so lenders will need to factor this additional cost into mortgage assessments for homes above the threshold.
Those hit hardest will be ‘empty nesters’ and people who bought their property decades ago simply as a family home, not as an investment. Asset-rich but cash-poor older homeowners could really struggle, as this tax could be equivalent to an entire year’s state pension.
That said, this could offer opportunities by acting as a catalyst for some homeowners considering downsizing or ‘right-sizing’ into properties that better suit their current needs. In theory, this could help release larger family homes back into the market in high-demand areas such as Cheshire, London and the South East. Together’s products, such as regulated bridging loans and larger mortgages, will be able to help these kinds of people achieve their property ambitions.
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