Buying a house with a business attached

kittycatsam

Hi, does anyone have experience of buying a house which also has commercial use for outbuildings?

No property in mind yet, just tentatively looking but we would like somewhere with either an established business to buy with it or outbuilding which we could set up for business use or already have permission.

This is an idea my Husband and I are thinking about and I'm a bit confused about whether it would just involve a standard mortgage or part mortgage/ part business loan.

holly_hobby

If they are on a single title deed, this would require a commercial mge.

If the deed can be split, and the properties are self contained, it would be a residential mge and a commerical mge.

You will be looking at a typical min 30% deposit, together with a robust business plan for consideration. Which should illustrate your experience of running a busines in the sector/or at all, details of the business trading figs (esp if buying as a going concern) - to which the lender may well require sight of books to examine the turnover, costings etc (as you should yourself, to ensure you're not buying someone else's failling operation).

The lender will also look at such things as how you plan to develop/increase profits, esp if sale of the business may result in a downturn due to loss of goodwill, together with several other aspects. Including, if you intend to operate this yourselves either full time, part time or retain your employed position (and current income) and employ staff.

A commerical broker will guide you, and will charge an up front fee, but should assess the market as a whole. A fee is generally charged regardless of successful placement, as commercial loans can be both messy and time consuming - often falling out of bed before offer achieved.

If you wanted to generally sound out the viability but avoid a fee, you could in the first instance approach your own bank, or a high st bank that offer commercial finance - as generally there won't be a general equiry fee, and it will give you a feel of what type of info and data the UWs will require and assess as part of any future application.

Hope this helps

Holly