Lenders generally require a detailed property / tenancy schedule from investors with borrowing in excess of £1m. This is usually required on a monthly, quarterly, 6-monthly or annual basis.
It is essential that this information is provided in a format that is clear to understand, robust enough to satisfy the lenders requirements, and provided on a timely basis.
As tenants come-and-go, the ongoing maintenance of this schedule can become quite a time consuming exercise.
Additionally, if you have facilities with more than one lender, this becomes an even more cumbersome exercise.
In most cases, the rationale for lenders seeking such information is to enable the loan covenants to be tested.
Therefore, an inaccurate or incomplete schedule could inadvertently trigger a breach of covenant.
Historically, these covenants were often hidden in the depths of the loan agreement, and tested by the lenders without your knowledge. Therefore, a breach of covenant would usually come as a surprise to the borrower, who in many cases did not know the covenants even existed.
As regulations continue to change within the finance industry, the onus is often on the borrower to not only understand these covenants, but to test the covenants themselves and certify this to the lender within the required timescales.
What can Bespoke do to help ?
At Bespoke, we will produce and maintain your property / tenancy schedule and test and certify the covenants on your behalf.
We will diarise the relevant dates to ensure this information is provided on a timely basis and liaise with the lender(s) to obtain any information we require from them, to enable the covenants to be tested in accordance with their requirements.
This gives us the opportunity to monitor the covenant trends and advise you of any adverse trends long before any breaches occur, thus being a step ahead of the lender.
This professional approach goes a long way towards enhancing your reputation with the lender (believe me, your bank manager does not want to be chasing you for this information!), demonstrating the sophistication and management strength of the borrower.