Mortgages
Rates get all the attention. The decisions that actually cost people money are the term, the structure, and the month they let a fixed rate lapse quietly onto the standard variable.
01 · Scope
What this covers, and what it does not.
This service covers residential, property-portfolio and commercial lending: first purchases, remortgages, buy-to-let, portfolio landlords, self-employed and complex-income cases, and lending against commercial premises. It covers establishing what you can actually borrow, choosing the term deliberately, selecting on total cost, and managing the case through to completion.
It does not cover conveyancing, survey or valuation. Where the question is really about the asset rather than the loan, it belongs in Real Estate. Lending against UK real estate is offered via our partner Daksfirst.
02 · What we examine
The schedule we work through with you.
Before any recommendation is made, these are the items we go through together. Nothing here is unusual; what is unusual is seeing all of it in one place.
- Income, as a lender sees it
- Employed, self-employed, dividend, bonus or retained profit. Lenders treat each differently, and their treatment — not your view of your income — sets the number you can borrow.
- Deposit & loan-to-value band
- Which band you land in. Moving from 90% to 85% to 75% shifts the rate more than shopping around ever will.
- Affordability under stress
- Lenders test at a rate materially above the pay rate. Buy-to-let is typically assessed on an interest cover ratio of 125–145% at a stressed rate around 5.5%, which is what makes or breaks most landlord cases.
- Credit record
- What is genuinely on it, checked before any application leaves a footprint. Declines cluster, and each one makes the next lender more cautious.
- Term & structure
- Length, repayment against interest-only, offset facilities, and how the balance is split between parts. The term is the most under-discussed decision in the whole process.
- Product end date
- The day the fixed rate ends is the most expensive date in the mortgage. It goes in the diary the day the mortgage completes, and it is acted on six months out.
- Portfolio position
- At four or more mortgaged buy-to-let properties, PRA portfolio-landlord rules apply and the entire portfolio is underwritten, not just the property being bought.
- Early repayment charges
- What leaving costs, and the cases where it still pays to leave. Sometimes the charge is worth paying; it should be a calculation, not a reflex.
03 · How we work
The order the work happens in.
The sequence matters as much as the content. Doing these in a different order is how good intentions turn into expensive corrections.
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Establish capacity before viewing
Knowing the real number first changes how you negotiate, and stops offers being made on properties that were never fundable.
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Choose the term deliberately
The difference between a twenty and a thirty year term is usually far larger, over the life of the loan, than the difference between two competing rates.
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Select on total cost over the deal period
Rate plus product fee plus valuation and legal costs plus what happens at the end, calculated across the actual fixed term rather than compared as headline percentages.
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Prepare the case properly
A fully evidenced application to a lender whose criteria you meet beats a rushed one to a lender advertising a cheaper rate. Complex income cases live or die on the quality of the paperwork.
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Manage it to completion
Chasing valuers, solicitors and underwriters is unglamorous and it is most of the value. Offers expire; chains collapse while everyone waits politely.
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Diarise the end date and act six months out
Standard variable rates are where lenders make their margin on inattentive borrowers. This is the single easiest saving in personal finance and the most commonly missed.
04 · A worked example
What this looks like in practice.
A £3,000,000 refinance at 65% LTV, after other lenders walked
A refinance that mainstream lenders had already declined, on a case that needed legal, valuation and finance specialists coordinated to a single timetable rather than working sequentially and blaming each other for the delay.
The facility completed at 65% loan-to-value. The work was not finding a cheaper rate; it was assembling a case that a lender could say yes to, and then holding four parties to one deadline.
Composed from the kind of work we do, with details changed and combined so that no client is identifiable. It is an illustration of an approach, not a promise of a particular outcome.
05 · Risks & disclosure
The part that is usually set in small type.
It is set here at the same size as everything else, because it is the same size in real life.
Your home may be repossessed
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE. Think carefully before securing other debts against your home.
Rates change, and so do payments
On a variable rate, or at the end of a fixed period, your monthly payment can rise significantly. Affordability should be tested against a materially higher rate than the one on offer today. Rates, fees and terms vary by lender and product, and are not guaranteed until formally confirmed.
Buy-to-let is mostly unregulated
Most buy-to-let mortgages are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and fall outside the Financial Ombudsman Service other than in specific consumer buy-to-let cases.
How mortgage advice is provided
Rai Wealth Management Ltd works under a Contract for Services Agreement with Maystone Capital Ltd, which is directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under reference number 758412. Rai Wealth Management Ltd is not directly authorised and is not an Appointed Representative; all regulated activities are undertaken by Maystone Capital Ltd. Where a product may be offered by a packager, or where we need an introducer, your loan requirement may be referred to another provider of services in agreement with you. Personalised advice is only provided following a full assessment of your circumstances, and should be sought before entering into any mortgage agreement.
Bridging and commercial finance are not regulated
We provide bridge finance solutions via Daksfirst — which operates as an Appointed Representative of Maystone Capital Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FRN 758412, AR registration 937220 — or through other bridge lenders we work with. This may include private lenders, overseas lenders, other bridge lenders and funds that can support such requests. We also provide solutions for commercial property finance. Such funding arrangements are not regulated by the FCA.
Figures and allowances
Every allowance, threshold and rate on this page is stated for the UK 2026/27 tax year and is included to show how the work is done, not as advice you should act on. Thresholds change at Budgets, and tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances.
Regulatory information
Rai Wealth Management Ltd is registered as a private limited company in England and Wales under company number 12318787. Registered office: 6 Westholme Gardens, Ruislip, HA4 8QJ, United Kingdom. Rai Wealth Management Ltd works under a Contract for Services Agreement with Maystone Capital Ltd, which is directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under reference number 758412. Rai Wealth Management Ltd is not directly authorised and is not an Appointed Representative; all regulated activities are undertaken by Maystone Capital Ltd. Rai Wealth Management Ltd is the data controller of personal data you provide to us and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under reference number ZA759299.
The full risk warnings and disclaimer apply to everything on this page.
Abhineet RaiFounder · Wealth Adviser · prepared this page
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