Will a high street lender provide a mortgage for a property with land, stables or outbuildings?
Tags: Large mortgage loans, Residential mortgages
Quick Summary
Many mortgage lenders will consider properties with land, stables, outbuildings or equestrian facilities, but acceptance depends on acreage, property use, valuation and lender criteria. High street banks may offer residential mortgages where the land and stables are for personal use, while larger plots, agricultural restrictions, commercial equestrian centres, livery yards or income-generating outbuildings can require specialist lenders or private banks. Properties with more than 10 acres, barns, paddocks, annexes or mixed-use elements may need to be manually signed off by someone senior at the lenders, especially if the property is over £1 million. Trinity Financial’s experienced mortgage brokers help clients buy rural homes, country houses and properties with land by matching them with lenders that understand complex property types, larger mortgage loans and non-standard security. Contact Trinity Financial for expert advice before making an offer. Private banks are also keen to lend against country homes.
Increasing numbers of the bigger banks provide mortgages for homes with land, outbuildings and stables. There are also many smaller building societies, niche lenders, and private banks keen to offer mortgages to clients buying unusual or rural properties.
Most mortgage lenders will not state on their websites that they offer finance on unusual properties with land or stables, but they can be flexible with their acceptance criteria. This is often provided the property is not being used for commercial purposes, and there are no agricultural ties.
Most banks and building societies insist properties should be for personal use and set limits on the number of stables country houses can have. Some even cap the property's overall footprint, including the stables, relative to the total acreage. However, for the right clients and those special properties, they are willing to bend their standard rules.
Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: "We regularly get enquiries from people buying properties with stables as they look to move out of more populated places. There is clearly a strong demand for country living and detached rural houses with land and space for animals.
"We have a long list of lenders accepting rural properties, but they tend to have specific bits of criteria which can cause issues. Problems can arise if the stables are too big, outbuildings are larger than the house, the land has grazing rights, or the property is in an isolated part of the UK. However, lenders are competing to attract borrowers and are willing to take a view on more unusual homes. Some lenders even state they are willing to issue mortgages on landlocked properties, subject to their valuers' comments."
What are the property with land lending rules per lender?
| Mortgage lender | Does the lender consider properties with land? With conditions. |
Key acreage limits and conditions
|
| Barclays for Intermediaries | Yes | Will consider properties with land that adjoins the property. Special properties can be signed off through the specialist lending team. |
| Coventry Building Society for Intermediaries | Yes | Can consider significant acreage subject to the valuer’s comments. |
| Family Building Society | Yes | Acceptable, subject to the property valuer’s comments. and individual underwriting. |
| Halifax for Intermediaries | Yes | Each application is assessed on its own merits. Subject to the property valuer’s comments. and individual underwriting. |
| Kensington Mortgages | Yes | For properties over three acres, valuation is based on the residential property and immediate gardens, which must not exceed 3 acres. |
| Metro Bank for Intermediaries | Yes | No maximum acreage restriction, but the lender will only value the property and immediate gardens. |
| Nationwide for Intermediaries | Yes | Gives special consideration to large acreage properties. Land must be used entirely for the applicant’s own residential purposes. |
| Source: Lender websites |
Is it possible to get a standard mortgage if a property has outbuildings being let out?
Trinity Financial's brokers can access lenders willing to accept a range of properties—for example, large homes with cottages or let-out buildings. We even have access to a private bank happy to provide mortgages on large and unusual properties, with commercial links like souvenir shops, tea rooms, or holiday lets on the estate. They also have access to lenders able to ease their criteria for £400,000+ properties. We recently arranged a mortgage on a large country home with stables, and it was used to host weddings a few times a year.
Mortgage agreed on quirky properties subject to valuer comments
Mortgage lenders rely heavily on the valuers they send to inspect properties, and while you may earn enough to secure funding, the property has to be acceptable. If a valuer does not think the property is suitable security for the lender, the application will not be accepted. They are there to make sure properties meet the lender's specific rules.
We will always ask you to send us a link to a property you are trying to purchase from the estate agent's website or get a copy of the property spec so we can run it past the lenders before an application is submitted. In most cases, we should be able to get a quick yes or no from the lender.
Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a mortgage for properties with land or outbuildings, book a consultation, or complete our mortgage questionnaire. Please send us a link to the property.
The information contained within was correct at the time of publication but is subject to change.
Your mortgage is secured on your property. Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage
Yes. Lenders are keen to issue mortgages to borrowers who are buying properties with stables. This is provided there is no substantial commercial element, for example, riding schools with large equestrian facilities. Some lenders will offer mortgages to buyers keen on houses with equestrian facilities, but the choice of lender reduces unless the property is over £1 million.
Yes, many banks, building societies, specialist lenders and private banks will consider mortgages on properties with land. The lender will usually assess the acreage, how the land is used, whether there are agricultural restrictions and whether the property is mainly residential. Halifax will assess each application on its own merits, and Metro Bank has no maximum acreage restriction. However, Metro will only value the subject property and immediate gardens. Other lenders have different rules but the are keen to issue property with land mortgages.
Yes, increasing numbers of lenders will accept homes with equestrian facilities, especially if they are for private use. If the property includes a riding school, livery yard, equestrian centre or income-generating business, fewer lenders are likely to consider it, and a specialist or more generous lender or private bank may be needed.
Some high street lenders accept properties with stables, particularly where the stables are for personal use rather than commercial use. The number and size of the stables, the property value and the valuer’s comments can all affect whether the mortgage is approved. One or two stables are typically accepted by many lenders, increasingly the big banks and building societies, with the lowest fixed or tracker rate mortgages.
Yes, many banks, building societies, specialist lenders and private banks will consider mortgages on properties with land. The lender will usually assess the acreage, how the land is used, whether there are agricultural restrictions and whether the property is mainly residential. Some lenders state they will give special consideration to large acreage/properties, although the property/land must be used entirely for the applicant's own residential purposes.
They can be more complex than standard residential mortgages because lenders need to assess the property, land, buildings and any unusual features. A mortgage broker experienced in rural and country-house mortgages can approach lenders before a full application is submitted. Trinity's brokers gave access to a long list of lenders keen to offer rural house mortgages.
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