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InsightsRead the guidesStrategy explained properly — BRRR, rent to rent, serviced accommodation — written from deals we've actually done.ToolkitRun the numbersThe Deal Intelligence analyzer and quick calculators — the same instruments we use at our own desk.ResourcesTake the documentsChecklists, planners and scripts as free branded PDFs. Our working paperwork, not marketing bait.FAQsGet straight answersFees, process, compliance and how working with us actually works — asked and answered without waffle.

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Three guides worth your evening

The glossary

44 terms, plain English

Agreement in Principle (AIP): A lender's indication of what they'd lend you, based on a soft check. Not a promise — but agents take you seriously with one.
Article 4 Direction: A council order removing permitted development rights in an area — most commonly meaning you need planning permission to create a new HMO. Check before you buy, not after.
AST: Assured Shorthold Tenancy — the standard tenancy contract for most UK residential lets.
BMV (Below Market Value): Buying under what the property would fetch properly marketed. Real BMV comes from motivated sellers and speed, not from magic — anyone promising 30% discounts everywhere is selling you something.
Bridging finance: Short-term lending used to buy fast or fund works before refinancing or selling. Expensive by the month, so the exit plan matters more than the rate.
BRRR: Buy, Refurbish, Rent, Refinance — add value through works, refinance at the higher value, and pull most of your cash back out to go again.
Capital growth: The rise in a property's value over time. Nice when it happens; a bonus, not a plan — we buy on cash flow and treat growth as upside.
Cash flow: What's left of the rent each month after every cost — mortgage, management, maintenance, voids, bills. The number that decides whether a deal feeds you or eats you.
Completion: The day money moves, ownership transfers, and you get the keys. Exchange is the commitment; completion is the handover.
Conveyancing: The legal work of transferring property ownership — searches, enquiries, contracts. Slow when unmanaged; chase it weekly.
Deal packaging: Finding and negotiating a deal, doing the due diligence, then selling that ready-made opportunity to an investor for a fee. The packager's reputation is the product.
Deal sourcing: Finding investment opportunities — on-market, off-market, direct-to-vendor — for yourself or for investor clients. Compliant sourcers are registered, insured and transparent about fees.
Development finance: Lending for heavier projects, drawn in stages as works complete, with the lender's surveyor signing off each stage.
Due diligence: Everything you verify before committing: title, structure, area, numbers, comparables. The work that separates investing from gambling.
EICR: Electrical Installation Condition Report — legally required for lets, renewed five-yearly. Budget for remedial works on older stock.
EPC: Energy Performance Certificate, rated A–G. Rental property currently needs E or better, and the bar is expected to rise — check the upgrade cost on anything marginal.
Equity: The slice of the property you actually own: value minus debt. Idle equity in a portfolio is capital not working — the tracker's job is to spot it.
ERC (Early Repayment Charge): The penalty for leaving a mortgage product early. The silent killer of refinance plans — check the dates before you plan the exit.
Exchange of contracts: The moment both sides are legally committed and the deposit is at risk. Until exchange, anyone can walk away.
Exit strategy: How you get your money back out: refinance, sell, or hold. Decided before purchase, with a written fallback — deals fail at the exit, not the entrance.
Flip: Buy, improve, sell. Profit lives in the margin between all-in cost and sale price — we want 20% on cost before we'll touch one.
Gazumping: The vendor accepting a higher offer after accepting yours, pre-exchange. Legal in England. Speed to exchange is the only real defence.
GDV (Gross Development Value): What the finished project will be worth. Every other number leans on this one, so evidence it with sold comparables, not optimism.
Ground rent: Annual charge on some leaseholds. Doubling ground rent clauses can make a property unmortgageable — read the lease.
HMO: House in Multiple Occupation — three or more unrelated people sharing facilities. Higher income, higher obligation: licensing, fire safety, minimum room sizes.
ICR (Interest Coverage Ratio): The lender's stress test: rent must cover the mortgage interest by 125–145% at a stressed rate. It caps what you can borrow regardless of the property's price.
Lease option: The right — not the obligation — to buy a property at a fixed price within a period, usually while controlling and profiting from it meanwhile. Powerful, and utterly dependent on proper legal drafting.
Leasehold: Owning the property but not the land, for a fixed term. Below ~80 years remaining, extension costs bite and lenders flinch.
LTV (Loan to Value): Debt as a percentage of value. 75% is the standard investment ceiling; lower LTV means safer, lazier money.
Off-market: Property sold without public marketing — through relationships, letters, or word of mouth. Less competition, more work.
Permitted development: Building works allowed without full planning permission. The rules are detailed and council-specific — confirm in writing for anything structural.
Probate sale: A sale following the owner's death. Often chain-free with motivated executors — handled with respect, these are some of the fairest deals done.
Refinancing: Replacing one mortgage with another — usually after adding value, to release equity. Most lenders want six months' ownership first.
Rent to rent: Leasing a property from a landlord at a guaranteed rent, then operating it (often as serviced accommodation) for the margin. A business built on an agreement — the contract is everything.
ROI / Return on cash: Annual profit divided by the cash you actually put in. The honest scorecard for leveraged property — we grade every deal on it.
Section 21 / Section 8: The two legal routes to regaining possession from a tenant. Both depend on your paperwork being right from day one — deposit protection, certificates, notices.
Serviced accommodation (SA): Furnished short-stay lets run like a hotel. Higher revenue, real operations — cleaning, guests, channels. We run two ourselves.
Sourcing fee: What a deal sourcer charges for a packaged deal — typically £2–5k. Fair when the work is real and the fee is agreed in writing before commitment.
Stamp duty (SDLT): Tax on purchase, with a surcharge on additional dwellings. Always in the deal analysis from the start — it's not a footnote, it's thousands.
Stress test: Re-running the numbers at worse conditions — higher rates, lower rent, longer voids. If the deal only works in the sunshine, it doesn't work.
Title: The legal record of ownership at the Land Registry, including boundaries, covenants and charges. Your solicitor reads it; you should understand it.
Vendor: The seller. Understanding their situation — timescale, motivation, pressure — is worth more than any negotiation script.
Void: A period with no tenant and no rent. Budget 5–10% of the year for them; pretending they won't happen is how spreadsheets lie.
Yield (gross): Annual rent divided by purchase price. A quick comparison tool between properties — useful shorthand, but cash flow pays the bills, not yield.

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