Real Estate
Finding the right property is half the work. Financing it well — and knowing the point at which to walk away — is the half that decides what it is actually worth to you.
01 · Scope
What this covers, and what it does not.
This service covers identifying and financing a home or an investment property, co-investment in development projects and lending funds, and the coordination of the professional team through to completion. Lending against UK real estate is offered via our partner Daksfirst.
It does not cover conveyancing, survey or valuation work, or the filing of your tax return. It overlaps deliberately with Mortgages: that service is the lending itself, this one is the asset and the decision to buy it.
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.
- Purpose
- A home, an income stream, capital appreciation, or a mix. The honest answer changes the structure, the finance and often the property itself.
- Deposit and its source
- How much, from where, and what it costs to release it. Capital pulled out of a portfolio has a price that rarely appears in the buyer's spreadsheet.
- Ownership structure
- Personal, joint, company (SPV) or trust. The choice affects Stamp Duty, income tax, capital gains and what happens on inheritance, and it is close to irreversible after exchange.
- Stamp Duty position
- Whether the 5% additional-property surcharge applies, whether the 2% non-resident surcharge applies, and whether first-time buyer relief is available. Residential SDLT begins above £125,000.
- Security available
- Whether cross-charging against property you already own widens the range of lenders, improves the rate, or removes the need to liquidate investments at the wrong moment.
- The exit
- How the debt is repaid: sale, refinance, income, or a maturing asset. Every lender will ask. The answer should exist before they do.
- Timetable
- An auction deadline, a chain, or a development drawdown schedule. Two weeks and eight weeks are entirely different lending markets.
- Development-specific
- Gross development value, build cost, contingency, planning status, contractor track record, and how the return behaves under a 10% cost overrun. If it does not survive that test, it is not a margin, it is a hope.
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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Decide what the property is for
Before anything is viewed. A property bought for income and a property bought for a family are financed, structured and negotiated differently.
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Establish the true capacity
Total borrowing capacity across all available security, not just against the property being purchased. Buyers routinely understate what they can raise and then bid timidly.
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Structure before you offer
Ownership and Stamp Duty decisions are cheap to make now and expensive to unwind later. This is the single most valuable hour in the process.
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Approach the lenders who say yes to this shape
High street, specialist, private bank, bridging or development finance. Non-standard cases go to desks that have funded that shape of deal before, not to whoever advertises the lowest rate.
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Coordinate the team to one date
Solicitor, valuer, broker and lender working to a single completion timetable, with someone whose job it is to chase. That someone is us.
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Plan the exit at the outset
Written down on day one, with the refinance date in the diary — not discovered in month thirty-five of a thirty-six month facility.
04 · A worked example
What this looks like in practice.
A prime London home, financed against two existing properties
A client wanted to buy in Belgravia without selling investments into a falling market to raise the deposit. Rather than liquidate, we cross-charged the facility against two properties they already owned and coordinated the legal, valuation and finance teams to a single deadline.
The buyer was able to negotiate as a proceedable purchaser rather than one waiting on a sale, which is where a meaningful part of the value was won. The whole journey — from finding the right property to arranging the finance — was handled as one engagement.
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.
Property is illiquid, and geared
All property investments carry risk, including the possible loss of capital. Property values can fall as well as rise, and property is an illiquid asset that may take time to sell. Rental income and capital growth are not guaranteed. Where borrowing is used, a fall in value is magnified against your equity, and cross-charging puts an existing property at risk if the new facility is not serviced.
Development risk is real
Co-investment in development projects and lending funds can result in the loss of the whole amount invested. Returns are not guaranteed, timescales slip, and these arrangements are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the way a bank deposit is.
Take independent legal and surveying advice
Independent legal and surveying advice should be obtained before any property transaction, and personalised advice should be sought before acting on any of the general information contained here. Nothing on this page constitutes personalised advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or proceed with any specific product, service or provider, and it does not take account of your particular financial situation, objectives or risk tolerance. Personalised advice is only provided following a full assessment of your circumstances and objectives.
Introductions, commission and fees
We may be able to introduce you to real estate investment opportunities in the UK or overseas. Should you proceed to acquire a property, we may receive a commission for the sale or purchase. We may also be able to help with the sale of a real estate property in the UK or overseas; should you proceed to sell, we will charge a fee for the sale or purchase. Such fees will be agreed upon in advance.
Lending against real estate is largely unregulated
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. 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.
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
The other services
One relationship, the whole picture.
These are not separate products bought from separate people. Each service assumes the others exist.
Speak to us
A conversation, before anything else.
Tell us where you are and what you would like to achieve. We will reply personally — and if this is not the right service for you, we will say so.