How to get a commercial mortgage

Updated October 2026

A commercial mortgage is a term loan secured by a legal charge over a property a company trades from or lets to others, and getting one is a sequence of seven steps: the property and the purpose, eligibility, the criteria check, the decision in principle and the valuation, the offer, the legal work, and completion with the registrations. Each step hands the case to someone, and knowing who holds it at each stage is most of what makes it quicker.

We have access to a range of UK commercial finance lenders through our principal, White Rose Finance Group Limited. Each lender publishes its own maximum loan-to-value, rate and term and makes its own decision. Think carefully before borrowing. Property or other assets offered as security may be at risk if you cannot keep up repayments.

Step 1: the property and the purpose

Two questions decide how the whole case is read. Is the company going to occupy the building or let it? And is this a purchase or a refinance? An owner-occupied case is underwritten on the company’s own accounts, because the profits repay the loan. An investment case is underwritten on the rent and the tenant. A purchase needs the heads of terms with the seller; a refinance needs the existing mortgage statement and the reason for refinancing.

Have the address, the price or the current valuation, the planning use and, for an investment, the lease to hand before anything else.

Step 2: eligibility

For property-secured lending we work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. A mortgage on a property you or your family live in is a regulated mortgage contract, and we do not arrange those. We arrange finance only once a business has traded for 3 months, for amounts from £10,000.

A lender reads the company’s filed accounts, which a private company files at Companies House within 9 months of its year end, and the directors’ own position: their experience, their credit files and their assets, because a personal guarantee is commonly asked for alongside the charge.

Step 3: the check against published criteria

Each lender publishes the property types it lends on, its maximum loan-to-value for each, the minimum loan, the term and whether it will take a second charge. Loan-to-value is the loan expressed as a percentage of the lender’s valuation, and the deposit is the difference between the price and the loan that figure allows. We read your case against those criteria and set out what each lender that fits offers, side by side. The decision on where it goes is yours.

Enquiring does not affect your credit score. If you apply to a lender, it runs its own credit search, which may be recorded on your file.

Step 4: the decision in principle and the valuation

The lender you chose issues an indicative decision on the papers, and then instructs a surveyor from its own panel to value the property. The valuation sets the loan, because the lender lends against value rather than price, and the valuer reports on the condition, the use and anything that would affect a sale. The valuation fee is payable at this stage whether or not the mortgage completes, and the valuer’s timetable is the first part of the process that sits with a third party.

Step 5: the offer

On a satisfactory valuation the lender issues a formal mortgage offer: the amount, the term, the rate (fixed for a period, or variable over a reference rate such as Bank Rate, which the Bank of England has held at 3.75% since 18 December 2025), the fees, any early repayment charge and the conditions to be met before completion. Read the conditions: a lender can require a lease to be varied, a planning matter resolved or a report obtained before it will release the money.

Step 6: the legal work

The lender’s solicitors and the company’s solicitors deal with the title, the searches, the lease where there is one, and the security documents: the legal charge over the property, usually a debenture over the company, and the directors’ guarantees. On a purchase this runs alongside the conveyancing of the sale itself. The company’s board resolves to borrow and to grant the security, and the directors sign.

This step is where most of the elapsed time goes on a commercial mortgage, and much of it is with third parties: the seller’s solicitors, the local authority search, the valuer’s follow-up questions.

Step 7: completion and the registrations

On completion the lender draws the loan to the company’s solicitor, the purchase completes or the old mortgage is redeemed, and the charge is registered: at HM Land Registry against the title, and at Companies House against the company within the 21 days Part 25 of the Companies Act 2006 allows. The first repayment is collected on the date in the offer.

We will receive commission from lenders. On some cases we also charge a fee, which we set out in writing and agree with you before you proceed.

Frequently asked questions

How much deposit does a commercial mortgage need?

Each lender publishes its own maximum loan-to-value for each kind of property, and the deposit follows from it. The use of the building, the strength of the company or the tenant, the accounts and any extra security all move the figure a lender will go to. No deposit figure is given here because each lender sets its own and they change.

How long does a commercial mortgage take?

Each lender publishes its own timescale. The valuation, the legal work and the registrations each take their own time, and much of it sits with third parties. The sooner the accounts, the lease and the title details are in the lender’s hands, the less of that time is spent waiting.

Can a company buy the unit it rents?

Yes, and it is a common owner-occupied case. The lender reads the company’s accounts as the source of repayment and the unit as the security, and instructs its own valuation.

Does enquiring affect my credit score?

Enquiring does not affect your credit score. If you apply to a lender, it runs its own credit search, which may be recorded on your file.

Are commercial mortgages regulated?

CapExpand Ltd (FRN 1060885) is a credit broker and an Appointed Representative of White Rose Finance Group Limited (FRN 630772), which is directly authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are a broker, not a lender. We work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. If you have a complaint, our complaints page explains how it is handled. We do not arrange regulated mortgage contracts, including properties for your own use.

Start at step 3

The property, the amount and whether the company will occupy it or let it are enough for us to check the case against lenders’ published criteria before anything is sent anywhere.

Check your options

Sources

Checked 26 October 2026. The steps describe how a case moves; each lender publishes its own criteria, loan-to-value, documents and timescale, and nothing on this page is a promise about any one lender.

Important information

Think carefully before borrowing. Property or other assets offered as security may be at risk if you cannot keep up repayments.