SPF Private Clients

SPF Private Clients arranges its largest BTL incorporation




SPF Private Clients has incorporated a portfolio of over 330 BTL properties into a single company vehicle.

The deal took over a year to arrange but had to take place in a single day in order to qualify for business rollover relief and to avoid significant capital gains tax penalties.

Howard Levy, director of BTL finance at SPF Private Clients, steered the deal through to its completion, liaising with and coordinating the dozens of lenders, solicitors and valuers involved in the process, such as Shawbrook Bank and Kent Reliance for Intermediaries.

“The client has hundreds of properties with mortgages with various lenders; the objective was to create a company with sufficient funding to purchase the portfolio from him, and to complete every new mortgage on the same day,” explained Howard.

“I brokered the new finance to six lenders, with each of those having a number of staff specifically assigned to liaise with me to get the transaction completed.

“I was dealing with 13 lenders to redeem the former finance, five legal firms — each with a number of solicitors to cope with the sheer volume of paperwork — and I lost count of the number of valuers.” 

He added that the Covid-19 pandemic made the case more complicated and obtaining responses from freeholders, service charge statements, ground rents and other legal requirements went much slower.

“Just as we got going, the world changed — everyone was working from home on laptops; some valuers were taking bookings, but tenants didn’t want to let strangers into their homes.

“Timing was paramount, as each valuation has a finite life and, subsequently, many of these had to be extended.

“Incorporating on any scale, but particularly this one, is a specialist area that needs advisers who know what they are doing,” he concluded.

John Eastgate, managing director of property finance at Shawbrook Bank, commented: “The sheer scale of this transaction meant the client needed the sure-footed guidance of a broker and lender with deep subject matter expertise. 

“The result achieved is an outstanding example of what can be done with the right advice and right choice of lender.”

Alan Cleary, group managing director at Kent Reliance for Intermediaries, added: “We have done quite a few of these large-scale incorporations, although this is the largest we have seen from an individual to a limited company.

“We were delighted to have been able to help a long-term client through this process. 

“The client had best advice and we were happy to work with SPF as one of our key partners to ensure the smooth process of what was a complex transaction.”

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