The case for in-house lawyers

When people talk about speed in specialist lending, the focus is usually on underwriting or valuations. In reality, one of the biggest causes of delay—and even of deals falling over completely—is the legal process.

The instinct can be to see legal as the final stage before completion but, in my experience, that is already too late. The real value comes from involving legals much earlier, while there is still time to identify issues, have sensible conversations and find practical solutions.

Specialist property finance exists to solve problems that mainstream lenders often cannot. Speed has always been important but, today, brokers and borrowers are looking for more than just a quick turnaround. They're choosing specialist lenders because they want certainty of execution, flexibility, experienced people and confidence that someone will look at the deal commercially rather than simply follow a process.

That is why we made the decision more than 15 years ago to bring legal expertise in-house.

We believe the two biggest causes of delay in bridging and development finance are valuations and legals. That's why we don't outsource either. Our RICS chartered surveyors carry out valuations in-house and our legal team works alongside our lending team every day.

For us, it's not about saving a few days but about having the right conversations at the right time.

Our BDMs can sit down with our legal team while a deal is still being structured and ask questions about title, planning, lease clauses or access before the application has gone too far. If there's an issue, we'd rather know on day one than three weeks later.

Sometimes, those issues can be resolved. Other times, they can't. Either way, brokers and borrowers are getting answers before they have spent unnecessary time and money.

Read the full feature in B&C Magazine, here.