Securing Business Premises Under Extreme Time & Market Pressure

When the owner of a popular local fish and chip shop discovered his landlord was placing the building on the market, his entire business was suddenly on the line. Facing the real threat of an outside commercial investor purchasing the property, he was determined to buy the premises himself to protect his livelihood. Wanting a seamless solution, he turned to Acorn.finance to navigate the complex funding required.

To raise the required deposit, the client needed to refinance his former main residence, which he had recently let out, converting it into a Consumer Buy-to-Let (CBTL) mortgage. Because CBTL transactions require regulated mortgage advice, this called for a specialist tag-team approach across our dual-regulated practice.

Foy Mach took charge as commercial broker to source and structure the commercial mortgage for the shop via Acorn.finance, while Adrian McClaren — our regulated mortgage adviser — spearheaded the West One CBTL facility through Acorn.mortgage to unlock the deposit equity.

Just as legal completion approached, disaster struck: the chosen commercial term lender went into administration three days before completion. Overnight, our primary commercial funding vanished. Foy Mach immediately re-marketed the case across Acorn's specialist lender panel, securing a replacement commercial lender equipped to underwrite the shop quickly.

Simultaneously, West One placed a rigid condition stipulating that deposit capital would only be released if completion occurred concurrently with the commercial purchase. Managing this required juggling two independent lenders, two legal teams, expiring valuation reports, and ticking mortgage offer deadlines — all while a rival third-party purchaser waited in the wings.

Adrian McClaren and Foy Mach worked in tandem around the clock, relentlessly chasing underwriters, valuers, and solicitors on both fronts to synchronise every moving part. Against all odds, both facilities completed simultaneously on the exact same day, securing the property and making our client the official owner of his trading premises.

Delighted with the result, the client has already instructed Acorn.finance on his next mandate: financing the purchase of his second takeaway property from the very same landlord.