Refinancing a Complex Social Housing Portfolio Across Multiple Lenders

The Requirement:

A long-standing client approached us to refinance a 9-property residential portfolio in Lincoln. The portfolio included a mix of single lets, HMOs and MUFBs, but the key complexity was the tenant profile, with all units leased to a specialist social housing provider on 8-year FRI leases.

This structure delivered strong, contracted income for the client, including uplifted rent and protection against damage, but it also narrowed the available lender pool and risked pushing the case towards more expensive specialist funding.

About The Properties:

The portfolio comprised 9 residential assets across Lincoln, including:

• Single-let properties
• HMOs
• A number of MUFBs

All units were leased to a specialist social housing provider delivering complex care. The long-term 8-year FRI lease structure created strong income visibility, but also required careful lender selection given that many mainstream lenders take a cautious approach to this type of tenancy arrangement.

How we helped:

We reviewed the portfolio and identified that the best outcome would come from structuring the debt across multiple lenders, rather than trying to place the entire facility with a single funder. By using our understanding of lender appetite and our relationships across the market, we were able to match different parts of the portfolio to the most appropriate lenders.

We also streamlined execution by:

• Using AVMs for the majority of valuations
• Securing dual / lender-represented legal
• Reducing overall transaction time and costs wherever possible

This approach allowed us to preserve the benefit of the social housing income profile, while avoiding the pricing typically associated with more limited lender options.

The Outcome:

We successfully arranged £4m of refinance facilities across multiple lenders, with rates starting from 3.25%. This delivered a materially stronger outcome than originally expected and enabled the client to refinance the full portfolio on competitive terms, despite the complexity of the lease structure and tenant profile.