Specialist Property & Business Finance Jargon Buster

UK tax relief permitting 100% upfront tax deduction on qualifying commercial equipment, plant, and machinery up to statutory limits.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

A legal mechanism used by local planning authorities to remove specific Permitted Development rights in defined geographical areas (such as city centre office zones or high-density HMO areas). Where an Article 4 Direction is in place, developers must submit a full planning application instead.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Rapidly deployed bridging capital designed to complete property purchases within strict 28-day auction deadlines.

Development & Refurb

The average fee charged per bed in care homes or supported living, and a fundamental driver of healthcare business valuations.

Valuations & Metrics

A purchase price genuinely below the property's independently verified open market value. A small asking-price discount or refurbishment need does not by itself establish BMV.

Valuations & Metrics

Tax relief allowing commercial property owners to write off the capital cost of qualifying integral plant, fixtures, and fittings against taxable profits.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

Legal mechanisms, such as Section 162 or roll-over relief, that delay CGT liabilities when reinvesting or incorporating assets.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

A short-term regulated loan secured against property that allows a home buyer to complete a purchase when their sale chain collapses.

Development & Refurb

A mandatory charge levied by participating local authorities on qualifying new development floor space to fund local infrastructure.

Planning, Safety & Legal

Industrial processes other than those falling within Class E (light industrial). Covers heavier manufacturing, engineering, and industrial operations.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Facilities used for storage or distribution, including general warehouses, logistics hubs, and self-storage centres.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Hotels, boarding houses, and guest houses where no significant care is provided.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Care homes, hospitals, nursing homes, boarding schools, residential colleges, and secure residential accommodation.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Standard residential use for single households, families, or up to 6 residents living together as a single household receiving care. This includes single-family residential houses and individual self-contained flats/apartments.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Use of a dwellinghouse by 3 to 6 unrelated residents who share basic amenities such as a kitchen, bathroom, or living area as their main residence.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Introduced in September 2020, Class E combines former commercial categories into a single flexible class. It covers retail shops, financial & professional services, restaurants, cafes, office spaces, medical surgeries, creches, indoor sport/gyms, and light industrial uses. Properties in Class E can generally switch between these uses without requiring full planning permission.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

A planning sub-class covering office space, research and development, and light industrial processes compatible with residential areas.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Schools, universities, museums, art galleries, public libraries, places of worship, and law courts.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Shops under 280 sq m meeting local daily needs, community halls, outdoor sport/recreation areas, and swimming pools.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

A specific Permitted Development right introduced in 2021 that permits the change of use from Class E (commercial) to Class C3 (residential flats/houses), subject to local authority Prior Approval.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

The Care Quality Commission grade — Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate — which can directly affect healthcare commercial mortgage terms.

Commercial & Specialist Property

A lower-cost bridging loan used to clear expensive construction debt once practical completion is reached, allowing more time for sales or refinancing.

Development & Refurb

An accounting ledger tracking net funds lent to or borrowed from a company by its directors, potentially enabling tax-free capital extraction after incorporation.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

Net operating income divided by annual debt repayments. Lenders typically look for a minimum ratio between 1.20x and 1.35x.

Formula: net operating income ÷ annual debt service.

Valuations & Metrics

Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation. It is a core metric used to calculate going-concern commercial property values.

Valuations & Metrics

A safety report certifying the condition of electrical wiring and fixed installations in commercial and rented residential properties.

Planning, Safety & Legal

Energy Performance Certificate and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regulating legal minimum efficiency ratings — currently Band E, with commercial targets moving towards Band B.

Planning, Safety & Legal

An External Wall System fire-safety assessment used by lenders for certain multi-storey residential blocks with cladding.

Planning, Safety & Legal

Factoring includes outsourced credit control where the lender collects debt; Invoice Discounting can remain confidential, keeping billing and collection in-house.

Business & Cashflow

The sustainable net trading profit a reasonably efficient operator can achieve from a trading asset such as a pub or hotel.

Valuations & Metrics

A commercial lease where the tenant bears total financial responsibility for external and internal repairs, maintenance, and building insurance.

Commercial & Specialist Property

The statutory annual safety check required for gas appliances and flues in rented accommodation.

Planning, Safety & Legal

The total projected end market value of a property development once all construction works are fully completed.

Valuations & Metrics

Net Loan is the cash amount received in hand; Gross Loan is the total facility including rolled-up or retained interest, arrangement fees, and broker fees.

Valuations & Metrics

Gross Yield is annual rental income divided by purchase price. Net Yield subtracts operational expenses such as ground rent, service charges, and maintenance before calculating.

Valuations & Metrics

A residential property let to three or more tenants forming more than one household who share amenities such as kitchens or bathrooms.

Commercial & Specialist Property

A calculation used by BTL lenders to ensure gross rent covers interest costs at a stressed rate — typically 125% for SPVs and 145% for personal names.

Formula: gross annual rent ÷ stressed annual interest × 100.

Valuations & Metrics

Legal enquiries made to local councils during conveyancing to check planning history, highway adoption, environmental risks, and local burdens.

Planning, Safety & Legal

The proportion of total project costs — land purchase, build costs, and professional fees — funded by a development lender.

Formula: lender funding ÷ total project costs × 100.

Valuations & Metrics

The percentage of total senior development debt compared to the estimated final market value of the completed scheme.

Formula: senior development debt ÷ gross development value × 100.

Valuations & Metrics

The ratio of the mortgage amount borrowed relative to the appraised market value of the property, expressed as a percentage.

Formula: loan amount ÷ property value × 100.

Valuations & Metrics

The additional economic value unlocked when combining two connected interests, such as merging a sitting tenant's operating lease with the freehold.

Commercial & Specialist Property

Working capital advanced against future credit and debit card sales, repaid through an automatic percentage sweep of daily point-of-sale receipts.

Business & Cashflow

An independent chartered surveyor appointed by the lender to inspect initial development plans and verify ongoing construction drawdowns.

Development & Refurb

Predictable, contracted subscription or retainer income used to support non-dilutive business funding lines.

Business & Cashflow

A single freehold property containing multiple self-contained residential flats on one title without individual leaseholds.

Commercial & Specialist Property

Recourse debt allows lenders to claim personal or corporate assets outside the collateral; Non-recourse limits recovery strictly to the pledged asset, subject to agreed carve-outs.

Planning, Safety & Legal

The inspection grade for educational facilities and children's care homes that can influence lender appetite and interest-rate margins.

Commercial & Specialist Property

The estimated price a property would sell for on the open market between a willing buyer and seller in an arm's-length transaction.

Valuations & Metrics

A corporate model separating trading operations in an operating company from physical property assets in a property company to ring-fence risk and optimise tax.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

An election made to HMRC by a commercial property owner to charge 20% VAT on rents and sales, allowing recovery of qualifying input VAT on expenses.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

Alternative corporate financing using pension assets, including qualifying loanbacks or intellectual-property purchases, to fund business growth without conventional high-street debt.

Business & Cashflow

A national grant of planning permission that allows specific building works or changes of use to take place without submitting a full planning application.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

A legal commitment signed by business directors agreeing to personally repay corporate debt if the company defaults.

Planning, Safety & Legal

Outline permission approves the general development concept in principle; Full permission provides detailed architectural and engineering approval.

Planning, Safety & Legal

The formal contractual stage where construction works are substantially completed and the building is ready for occupation or handover, aside from minor defects.

Development & Refurb

A streamlined planning assessment where the local authority evaluates specific technical impacts of a Permitted Development scheme (such as transport impact, flood risk, contamination, noise insulation, daylight standards, and fire safety) within a statutory 56-day window.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

A reusable credit limit that can be drawn, repaid and redrawn as cash flow requires, with interest charged only on the balance in use.

Business & Cashflow

An official property valuation conducted by an independent RICS registered valuer adhering to formal professional and regulatory standards.

Valuations & Metrics

Short-term loan interest calculated for the full term and deducted upfront from the gross advance, meaning zero monthly payments during the loan term.

Valuations & Metrics

A percentage of development drawdowns, typically 5%–10%, withheld by the lender or developer until the defects liability period expires.

Development & Refurb

Interest added to the loan balance monthly and compounded, with the total balance settled in full upon exit or refinance.

Valuations & Metrics

Specific Stamp Duty Land Tax provisions that can mitigate or reduce SDLT when transferring genuine property partnerships into corporate structures.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

The tax payable on purchases of property and land in England and Northern Ireland. Rates differ for residential, non-residential and additional-property purchases; confirm liabilities with a solicitor or tax adviser.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

A legally binding planning deed requiring developers to contribute towards local infrastructure, affordable housing, or community amenities.

Planning, Safety & Legal

Tax relief allowing landlords transferring an active property business into a Limited Company SPV to defer Capital Gains Tax.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

UK tax legislation restricting individual landlords from deducting mortgage interest from rental income before calculating Income Tax.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

Standard monthly interest payments made by the borrower throughout the term of the loan.

Valuations & Metrics

The Companies House classification for ‘Renting and operating of own or leased property’, commonly used for specialist Limited Company SPV BTL mortgages.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

Raising funds against one selected unpaid invoice, or a small batch, rather than committing the whole sales ledger to a facility.

Business & Cashflow

A soft credit search leaves no visible footprint to other lenders; a hard credit search records a formal enquiry on the applicant's credit file.

Planning, Safety & Legal

A legal facility allowing a SSAS pension scheme to lend up to 50% of its net fund value back to the sponsoring employer as secured capital, subject to HMRC rules.

Business & Cashflow

Legal provisions allowing a lender to assume control of a development project if the borrower defaults or the developer becomes insolvent.

Development & Refurb

Latin for “of its own kind.” Refers to property uses that do not fit into standard Use Classes due to their operational impact, noise, or public footprint. Examples include: • Large HMOs (7 or more unrelated occupants) • Public houses, wine bars, and drinking establishments • Hot food takeaways (where consumption is mostly off-site) • Cinemas, music venues, dance halls, and bingo halls • Scrap yards, fuel stations, and car showrooms

Lender Note: Converting a property into or out of a Sui Generis use almost always requires full planning permission and specialised underwriting.

UK Planning Use Classes & Development Terms

Official Land Registry documents proving legal property ownership and listing registered mortgages, burdens, notices, or restrictions.

Planning, Safety & Legal

The legal division of a single freehold property into individual leasehold titles, often used to unlock a higher combined market value.

Commercial & Specialist Property

An HMRC provision permitting commercial property with sitting tenants to be transferred without charging 20% VAT, subject to specific conditions.

Tax, SPV & Structuring

The market value of a commercial property assuming it is entirely unencumbered by leases or occupying tenants.

Valuations & Metrics

The average remaining duration of leases across a commercial property portfolio, weighted by rental income.

Commercial & Specialist Property