How a London commercial mortgage completes
Five steps from first enquiry to completion and drawdown. Indicative terms inside 48 hours of a complete enquiry. RICS Red Book valuation instructed in week two or three. Solicitors running in parallel, not in series. Funds drawn at completion in 4 to 8 weeks on clean owner-occupier and investment deals, 6 to 10 weeks where a trading-business underwrite needs more work.
A commercial mortgage in one paragraph
A commercial mortgage is long-term debt secured against income-producing or owner-occupied commercial property. In the London market for mid-2026, facilities are typically structured at 65 to 75% LTV over 5 to 25 year terms, with monthly capital and interest payments. Rates run 6.0 to 9.0% pa across the standard products, with commercial bridging out at 8.5 to 11.0%. Arrangement fees are usually 1 to 2% of the facility. A RICS Red Book valuation on a London commercial asset runs £1,500 to £8,000 and more where the asset is large or the sector is specialist, and there are legal fees on both sides.
The "how" splits into two halves. First, what each lender needs to see: covenant strength, EBITDA or ICR cover, deposit source, and any sector-specific evidence. Second, what the process looks like in calendar weeks: enquiry, indicative terms, full application, RICS valuation, credit approval, legal completion, drawdown. We handle both. We package the application the way each lender desk wants to read it, and we run the timeline from your first call through to the completion statement.
The five-step process from enquiry to drawdown
Initial enquiry and free deal assessment
Send us the basics: property type and address, the borough, the purchase price or current valuation, your deposit position, and either two years of trading accounts (owner-occupier or trading-business) or the lease and tenancy schedule (commercial investment). We read the deal against current lender appetite for that part of London and come back to you the same working day. The first conversation is diagnostic and free of charge. No application form, no credit search, no fees committed. We tell you whether the deal is fundable, where the friction is likely to sit, what the probable LTV and rate band look like, which two or three lender desks we would target first, and what evidence we will need to build the credit submission. If the numbers do not work, you hear it on this call, before anyone has paid a valuer or a solicitor. If they do work, we move to step two.
Lender shortlist and indicative terms within 48 hours
We run the deal across three to five desks from the 90+ lender panel. That usually means a mix of high-street commercial (NatWest, Lloyds, Barclays, Santander), challenger banks (Allica, Shawbrook, Hampshire Trust Bank, Cambridge and Counties, Aldermore, YBS Commercial) and specialists (InterBay Commercial, LendInvest, Cynergy Bank) where the case calls for one. Indicative terms come back inside 48 hours of a complete enquiry: rate, LTV, term, repayment basis, the EBITDA or ICR cover the lender will test to, fees, conditions precedent and how keen the desk actually is. You see the alternatives side by side, with our view on the cleanest route and why. You choose the lender; we confirm the route and request the formal application pack. Indicative terms are not a binding offer. They are a firm intention to proceed if the valuation and the underwriting confirm what we already understand about the deal.
Full application and RICS Red Book valuation
We build the credit submission to match the chosen lender's underwriting style. Owner-occupier: two years of filed accounts, current management figures, the EBITDA workings, proof of deposit, the sale memorandum, ID and source-of-funds documents. Commercial investment: the lease pack, a full tenancy schedule with expiry and break dates, tenant covenant evidence, the rent roll, historic occupancy and the SPV pack where the borrower is a limited company. Portfolio cases add an asset schedule showing each property, its value, its debt, its lender, its rate and its maturity date. Trading-business: sector evidence, so CQC reports for a care home, Ofsted for a nursery, DVSA approval for an MOT centre, licensing and barrelage for a pub. The lender then instructs the RICS Red Book valuation through its own panel. In London that typically takes two to three weeks on mainstream commercial and three to five weeks on specialist assets. We prepare the legal pack in parallel so nothing waits in a queue.
Credit committee, underwriting and formal mortgage offer
With the RICS valuation in and the credit pack complete, the underwriter takes the case to credit committee. Committees sit weekly or fortnightly depending on the lender. The underwriter stresses the EBITDA or ICR cover at a notional rate above the pay rate, tests the valuation against the LTV requested, reads the accounts, looks at how much of that sector is already on the book, and lists the conditions precedent. On a clean case approval usually follows within one to two weeks of valuation sign-off. The lender then issues a formal mortgage offer setting out the binding terms: rate, term, fees, security, personal guarantee position, covenants and anything that must be satisfied before drawdown. We go through the offer with you line by line before you accept. Push-back is sometimes possible at this stage on covenant wording, a capped personal guarantee or a fee, and it is worth doing where the case supports it.
Legals, completion and drawdown of funds
On acceptance, the lender instructs its solicitor and you instruct yours. The legal work covers the facility agreement, the first legal charge over the property, any debenture, the personal guarantee, title investigation, local and drainage searches, planning compliance, and CPSE replies on a commercial investment purchase. In London, add the searches that catch people out: Crossrail and Underground assets, party wall matters, and on a leasehold interest the landlord's consent and any service-charge arrears. Standard commercial conveyancing runs three to four weeks from instruction, longer on complex or multi-asset cases. Once both solicitors are satisfied on conditions precedent, completion is fixed. On the day, the lender remits funds to your solicitor, the property transfers, the first legal charge is registered at HM Land Registry, and your solicitor pays the vendor or redeems the existing facility. Drawdown is a single tranche. Your monthly repayment cycle starts the following month.
What we need from you, and what lenders need to see
Trading accounts (owner-occupier and trading-business)
Two years of filed accounts plus current management figures is the standard ask. Specialists flex to 12 to 18 months in defensive sectors such as dental, GP and pharmacy where the qualification underwrites the cashflow.
Tenancy schedule (commercial investment)
Every unit, the tenant, the passing rent, the lease start and expiry, break dates, rent-review dates and any arrears. On a London multi-let this is the single document that decides how quickly a desk can quote.
Asset schedule (portfolio cases)
Each property, its current value, the outstanding debt, the lender, the rate, the product end date and the ERC position. Without it a portfolio refinance cannot be priced, only guessed at.
ID and source of funds
Photo ID and proof of address for every director and beneficial owner above 25%, plus a traceable audit trail on the deposit. Retained profit, sale proceeds or a written gift declaration all work. A second loan over the same security does not.
Cover tests
Owner-occupier: EBITDA covering the mortgage payment at 1.3 to 1.5 times. Commercial investment: ICR at 140 to 160% stressed above the pay rate. Trading-business: sector-specific cover, usually 1.5 to 2.0 times. We model all of it before submitting.
A realistic valuation expectation
Lenders act on the RICS Red Book valuation, not on the asking price. In London the gap between an agent's quoting price and the valuer's figure is the most common reason a commercial case stalls at credit committee.
How long does a London commercial mortgage take?
From a complete enquiry through to completion and drawdown: 4 to 8 weeks on mainstream owner-occupier, commercial investment and semi-commercial cases. 6 to 10 weeks on trading-business cases (care home, hotel, pub, MOT centre), reflecting the sector underwrite, any environmental due diligence and the wait for a specialist RICS valuer. The item on the critical path is almost always the valuation. Two things reliably shorten the timeline: having the accounts, the tenancy schedule and the ID pack ready on day one, and instructing a solicitor who does commercial work every week rather than occasionally. Two things reliably lengthen it: a leasehold title that needs a landlord consent, and a valuation that comes in under the agreed price and forces the LTV, the deposit or the price itself to be reworked.
Ready to kick off the process?
Indicative terms within 48 hours of a complete enquiry.