Commercial Mortgages by Property Type London
A Park Royal warehouse, a Harley Street consulting suite and a Brixton shop with three flats above are three completely different commercial mortgages. The asset class sets the lender list, the LTV cap, the cover test and the rate before anything else is discussed. Twelve sector pages, each with the underwriting that actually applies and the lenders that actually write it.
The asset class is the first thing a commercial mortgage lender prices
Most borrowers open with a postcode, an LTV target and a rate they have read somewhere. Lenders open with the property type. A commercial mortgage on a let City of London office runs through a different credit desk to one on a wet-led Camden pub freehold, with a different cover test, a different LTV cap, a different valuation methodology and a different rate. London makes that divergence sharper than anywhere else in the country, because it holds the deepest version of almost every commercial property market in the UK and the widest spread of asset quality inside each one.
Across the panel the practical division splits twelve ways. Three pure investment classes (retail, office, industrial and warehouse) underwritten on ICR against a tenant covenant. Five trading-business classes (leisure and hospitality, healthcare and care homes, pubs and restaurants, MOT and forecourt, nurseries and schools) underwritten on trading accounts, with sector regulators (CQC, Ofsted, DVSA) feeding the credit decision. Four hybrid or mixed-tenure classes (mixed-use, semi-commercial, HMO blocks, holiday-let portfolios) where appetite swings hard on the residential proportion or the operating model.
Each page sets out the LTV band, the cover test, the sector underwriting concerns, the mid-2026 rate range, the lenders most active on that sector and how the London market differs from the national picture. Where a deal sits awkwardly between sectors, a pub with a let flat above, a nursery in a converted Victorian villa, a serviced-apartment block, we say so and explain how lenders treat it rather than pretending the boundary is clean.
Three cover tests, twelve sectors, and the test decides the lender
The single most important variable on a commercial mortgage is which cover test the lender uses to size the loan amount. Get it wrong at outset and the offer either prices materially down at credit committee or falls over at valuation. Three tests dominate, plus a layer of sector overlays.
ICR, interest cover ratio
Used on let investment property: retail, office, industrial, semi-commercial and mixed-use. Tests rent against interest only at a stressed notional rate, typically 140 to 160%. The driver is the lease and the tenant covenant, not the borrower's own income.
DSCR, debt-service cover ratio
Used on portfolios and where capital amortisation matters to the lender. Tests net rent against the full monthly payment, interest plus capital, typically 130 to 145%. Common on portfolio refinance and on larger HMO and holiday-let portfolios.
EBITDA cover
Used on owner-occupier and trading-business mortgages: pubs, care homes, MOT centres, nurseries, hotels. Tests business operating profit against the mortgage payment, typically 1.3 to 1.5x for mainstream sectors and 1.5 to 2.0x for higher-risk trading sectors. Filed accounts and a credible forecast both matter.
Sector overlays
On top of the cover test sit the overlays that actually decide credit: CQC rating on care homes, Ofsted on nurseries, DVSA authorisation on MOT centres, barrelage and tie status on pubs, unexpired lease term on retail and office, occupancy and ADR on hotels and short lets.
12 commercial sectors covered
Each sector page covers the specific lender appetite, LTV cap, cover test, typical rate band, and London-market context for that asset class, including which of our 90+ panel lenders write the sector and which decline.
Send us the property, the LTV target and the trading or rental income
We will tell you which sector the deal sits in, which lender desks will look at it, which cover test applies and what indicative terms look like across the panel. Indicative numbers within 48 hours. If the deal does not work, wrong sector for the LTV, cover test fails, regulator rating insufficient, we say so at the enquiry stage rather than burning six weeks and a valuation fee finding out.