How to Find the Right Commercial Mortgage Lender

When you’re exploring commercial mortgage lenders in the UK, there’s no single ‘best’ provider that fits every situation. The right lender depends on the specifics of your deal and the asset type.

The lender list above demonstrates just a handful of the potential options for commercial mortgage providers. Rather than simply choosing the first, or most familiar, aim to find the lender who can actually match your financial plan and asset profile while also offering a competitive deal.

Key factors that determine lender fit include:

• Property type and use: Commercial property spans offices, retail, industrial, HMOs, mixed-use, medical buildings and more, each with different underwriting processes. Make sure you apply to a lender that funds your asset type.
• Borrower profile: Personal finance and credit history, experience with similar assets
• Loan size and structure: Larger or bespoke deals attract different lenders than mid-market acquisitions
• Risk and complexity tolerance: Specialist or transitional assets often need flexible, non-standard lending criteria
• Priority of flexibility versus price: Lowest headline rate isn’t always right unless terms and covenants align with your requirements.

How to Compare Commercial Mortgage Lenders Effectively

The fastest, most effective way to compare commercial mortgage lenders is by using Brickflow’s instant commercial mortgage calculator.

It takes seconds to enter the details of your property and finance requirements, and search loans from 150+ specialist lenders. We eliminate those who don’t fit your criteria, so you can quickly compare details of live loan options from lenders that actually fit your needs.

What to Compare (Beyond Headline Rates)

• Interest rate and total cost
  Rates give a starting point, but true cost includes fees, loan terms, structure and deposit requirements. Always compare the overall deal. 

• Loan-to-value (LTV)
  Some lenders will go higher on leverage for core assets with long leases, while others are more conservative. A higher LTV frees up your capital.

• Net Loan size
  A lower rate might have a smaller net loan, meaning more upfront investment.

• Asset type appetite
  A lender may routinely fund retail units, but at the time of application they might have more appetite for warehousing and storage facilities. Find out the lenders with capacity in your specific sector in seconds by searching on Brickflow.
  
  
• Complex or non-standard deal willingness
  Some lenders operate rigid criteria; others will accept complex properties such as short-leases, transitional assets or owner-occupiers with no trading history. 
  
  
• Speed and certainty of approval
  If your purchase is time-sensitive, searching on Brickflow enables you to specify your exact timeframe and eliminate commercial loan providers who can’t match it. 
  
  
• Transparency and communication
  From the get-go your lender should be forthright with terms, covenants, fees, and legal requirements, as well as be available to answer any queries. 

Banks vs Alternative Commercial Mortgage Lenders

Should I Use a Bank or Alternative Lender?

High-street or mainstream banks are often viewed as safe and trusted commercial mortgage lenders. Yet they’re just the tip of the iceberg; challenger and international banks, non-banks sometimes backed by the likes of pension funds and insurance companies, and specialist lenders all compete in the market. 

Unless you compare commercial mortgage lenders from the entire market, you can’t know for sure whether a bank, challenger bank or alternative lender is the best deal for you.

Some general characteristics of banks vs alternative lenders include:

High-Street Banks

• Will lend on owner-occupied properties (typically up to 75% LTV) and investment properties (up to 65% LTV)
• Typically lend on an interest + capital repayment basis
• Can offer lower pricing on core deals, but most often it’s a headline rate that only works for very limited property transactions.
• Stricter criteria, particularly on lease length, asset quality, and borrower history.
• Longer approval cycles driven by committee sign-off and compliance checks.
• Less appetite for complex assets, like short leases or conversions.
• Can usually be approached directly.
• Known, reputable, trusted (to an extent).

Alternative / Specialist Lenders

• Broader flexibility for transitional or niche deals
• Capital Repayment and Interest only mortgages are available
• Faster decisioning via streamlined credit and internal capital sources
• Often better suited to larger, more sophisticated landlords and more complex finance structures
• Provides more options for non-UK residents, or applicants with adverse credit history (higher rates will apply)
• More generous debt service coverage calculations (DSCR)* meaning higher net loan amount.

Banks make sense for standard, cash-flowing and predictable assets, where the borrower (or their business) has strong credentials. Specialist lenders can plug almost every other type of commercial mortgage transaction and typically with more competitive deals.

*Debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) is calculated by dividing net earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by principal and interest. DSCR ranges from around 1.25 - 2.00 so lenders offering 1.75 on £30,000 per annum mortgage would require a profit of £52,500 compared to just £37,500 with a 1.25 DSCR.

How Commercial Mortgage Lenders Assess Affordability

Understanding how lenders evaluate affordability is core to securing funding and negotiating terms.

Key Underwriting Criteria

• DSCR and Interest Cover Ratio (ICR)
  As above, lenders assess whether anticipated rental income (or business profits) comfortably cover mortgage payments, with stress tests for rate increases. 
• Lease analysis
  Long, secure leases with strong tenants reduce risk to lenders; short or breakable leases increase scrutiny.
• Borrower experience and track record
  Lenders sometimes reward seasoned investors with smoother underwriting and more competitive terms.
• Asset quality and exit strategy
  Valued either on market value basis (MV) or Vacant possession basis (VP), with lenders taking into account location, condition, market/economic position, comparables and demand. Lenders need confidence in the asset’s value and liquidity, and the ability to cover the mortgage for the duration of the loan. 

Knowing lender criteria can help explain why two borrowers with identical purchase prices may receive materially different terms.

How Commercial Mortgage Terms Vary Between Lenders

Two offers with similar rates can work very differently in practice. Knowing what to look for protects you from costly surprises.

Term & Structure Variations

• Term length: 5, 10 or 15+ years matters when matching your business plan and if you are paying on a C&I basis.
• Fixed vs variable pricing: Fixed rates provide budgeting certainty, variable tracks market rates meaning you could pay less/more if rates change.
• Repayment structures: Capital repayment vs interest-only affects cash flow and equity build-up.
• Break costs and early repayment charges: Can be significant if plans change.
• Covenants and review clauses: Lenders vary in the conditions a borrower must comply with during the loan term, such as maintaining a minimum level of rental income or providing regular financial information.

How to Avoid Poor or Unsuitable Commercial Mortgage Lenders (Red Flags)

Good lenders deliver clarity and consistency. Poor ones' burden deals with hidden costs, ambiguity and friction.

Watch out for:

• Vague or changing terms
  Key conditions that shift between term sheets and contracts.
• Late disclosure of fees
  Arrangement, legal, monitoring and exit fees should be transparent from the outset.
• Unrealistic pricing assumptions
  Ultra-low rates that hinge on low leverage, low-risk deals with perfect credit borrowers, rarely reflecting real lending outcomes.
• Inflexible covenants
  Rigid income or asset tests that don’t accommodate modest volatility can trap borrowers.
• Poor communication during due diligence
  Lack of responsiveness early often persists into execution.

Spotting these early protects you from mispriced risk and execution delays.

Going Direct vs Brokers vs Comparison Platforms

When sourcing a commercial mortgage there are three broad routes you can take: 

Going Direct

Pros:

• Direct dialogue with the lender
• Fewer intermediaries in negotiation, no broker fees

Cons:

• Limited visibility of market options, more likely to overpay
• Multiple separate applications needed to compare terms

Using a Commercial Mortgage Broker

Pros:

• Expertise in matching borrower profiles to lenders
• Access to specialist panels and negotiated terms

Cons:

• Outcomes depend on broker reach and priorities
• A broker’s panel limitations can create partial market views

Using a Comparison Platform like Brickflow

Pros:

• Broad, neutral visibility across commercial mortgage lenders UK wide
• Instant, like-for-like comparison of criteria, cost, deposit, net loan
• Eliminates time-wasting applying to inappropriate lenders
• Offers absolute transparency of the market, and borrower autonomy

Cons:

• No direct negotiation support (though combining a platform with a broker overcomes this)

Brickflow’s award-winning platform has revolutionised the way property professionals secure funding. Within seconds, you can see the most competitive commercial mortgages from across the breadth of the market and apply directly online to multiple lenders.