FAQ Category: Typical scenarios

Farms are generally not sold as a going concern and rarely have we seen an equestrian business sold in this manner. However, there are some rural enterprises that are such as include holiday cottage complexes, holiday parks, fisheries, kennels and catteries, nurseries and garden centres.

These businesses often include an element of value attributed to the trading business which not all lenders can consider within their valuations. It is therefore important that from the outset you engage a funding partner who understands the type of business, how to value it and how to lend to it.

Talk to us now. Planning is key. If you are in a strong position to move i.e. with funding pre- agreed, you will be able to negotiate more aggressively with the vendor. Remember, anyone selling a property is likely to be under an element of time pressure and if you can move quickly these are strong grounds for negotiation.

Our business has been built on helping people and their businesses. This is one of our areas of strength – we are problem solvers and always to go the extra mile to get you to where you want to be.

Accounts are produced for tax mitigation purposes. It is the job of the accountant to make them look worse than they really are. We understand that!

It is our job is to understand the history of your business, but more importantly to understand where your business is heading and how you intend to get there. Providing your plans are transparent, robust and stand up to scrutiny, funding is possible even if your accounts don’t look great.

No problem. We can help to fund any rural or land-based business or indeed any commercial business activity that operates from rural premises i.e. tree surgeon, engineer etc.

We understand that this can be daunting. However, we can hold your hand throughout the process and can introduce you to our associated professionals to give you the essential advice that you need to bring your plans to fruition.

Selling is the final option. Just because one bank doesn’t want to support you doesn’t mean that this is an industry-wide policy. We will explore the potential issues with the business and put into place a strategy to address these. With a firm plan in place and a clear direction for the business we would then approach our funding partners who we know would support you.

This is a possibility. Our funding partners’ criteria will be more demanding, but it is possible particularly with a business plan that is well thought out, transparent and stands up to scrutiny.

There is always a way. Our aim is always to find the best terms for you and to ensure the longevity of your business. Often, we find that it’s not quite as urgent as originally thought and it’s quite common for us to mediate to help you ‘buy time’ to ensure the most cost-effective funding solution is put in place.

That’s a very disappointing and frustrating position to find yourself in. We can review the situation and investigate if there are any grounds to talk to your existing bank again. Alternatively, we can address the issues raised and approach our alternative funding partners.

This is often a communication issue, or your business is in the wrong division of your bank. Our first port of call will always be to try to resolve any issues with your existing bank.

If your bank relationship is broken, we will try and fix it. If we can’t, then we can help you find an alternative relationship with one of our funding partners that best suits your purposes and circumstances. 

Occupancy restricted or agricultural tie properties are not a problem to fund – providing you can satisfy the occupancy restriction. The easiest way to answer this is to look at the planning consent on the property, particularly the occupancy restriction clause. Ask yourself if you comply or not. If you answer is no, then funding will not be possible.