Commercial or Residential Mortgage?

scottishlass1979

We work from home and need more space.   We would like to buy a flat in the town centre which we can use as a workshop and office to meet clients.   The flat will be quite cheap.  We may outgrow it in a couple of years.  Are we better off;
Paying cash, then renting it out? Ideally we wouldn't want to sink all our money into it (family home isnt paid off).  Would we be better getting a mortgage,  and if so a commercial or residential mortgage? 

Thanks

davidmcn

What sort of "workshop"? You'll have things like planning to consider as well as title conditions - people tend not to be fond of business premises up a close.

If the use isn't purely residential then probably a commercial mortgage, especially if you're relying on the business income to service it.

scottishlass1979

It would be a big kitchen essentially,  nothing invasive  (like strong odours) or hazardous. We currently run it from home and we don't need anything legislative other than food safety inspection.    

This is all new to us though and perhaps things are different if no one actually resides on the premises. 

davidmcn

If it's a full-time business with clients etc visiting, it doesn't sound particularly ancillary to residential use. I would expect difficulty in the context of a tenement (unless you can source somewhere which already has an established semi-commercial use).