Snapshot

• Clients:Brothers Philip and Simon Renwick from Sussex
• Business: A 400-acre estate combining arable, woodland and grassland with commercial letting units and a residential property portfolio
• Transaction: £3.8 million refinance, consolidating multiple existing facilities onto a single security
• Challenge: Their existing lender reclassified part of the estate’s borrowing, sharply increasing margins, and some elements were on rates as high as 11%
• Outcome:Facility restructured with a private lender at high-street-equivalent rates, secured across farm, commercial and residential elements

Challenge

The estate’s borrowing had built up piecemeal over time, split across high-street and other lenders. Despite a 50-year banking relationship, the existing high-street bank redesignated part of the debt from agricultural to property lending, moving the margin from roughly 2.5% to 4.5% over base rate. Other elements were pushed onto buy-to-let-style pricing. Some rates were as high as 11% in places, from second-charge mortgages.

The estate itself added complexity: farm income, commercial letting income and residential property income all needed to be assessed together, against a 25-year repayment profile, for a new lender to have confidence in serviceability. Time pressure was also a factor, as the longer borrowing sat at the higher rates, the more it ate into the estate’s returns.

Solution

The Renwicks worked with Graham Sanders, Rural & Business Specialists Senior Consultant, to prepare detailed lending proposals to put to other high-street lenders and private banks. A rigorous servicing analysis was modelled against a 25-year repayment profile, alongside a case for an interest-only structure to support cashflow while residential rents were brought up to current market levels.

Recognising that an estate of this complexity is best understood in person, Graham insisted that lenders visited the site and met the family directly, rather than assess the proposal from a desk. This proved decisive: of the lenders approached, only two committed to a site visit, and both went on to put forward workable terms. The remainder were unwilling to engage beyond a paper-based review.

Security was consolidated onto a single title covering the farm and commercial elements, allowing the residential portfolio to be ring-fenced separately.

Outcome

The £3.8 million facility was secured with a private bank, bringing the estate’s overall interest rate back in line with commercial high-street levels. Farm, commercial and residential elements were consolidated onto one structured facility in place of several separate arrangements.

The interest-only element supports cashflow while rents transition to market level, and the residential portfolio remains unencumbered, preserved as further security headroom for long-term succession planning.

Philip Renwick says:

“Graham knew which lenders would actually take the time to understand an estate like ours, and how to position the case to them properly. He pushed for lenders to come out and visit us, and that’s what got us over the line. His professionalism and market knowledge secured us an excellent offer.”