He said when he had got hold of a high-street lender willing to quote on a remortgage for his client (who has carried out similar remortgaging in the past and never defaulted), the lender offered an 8 per cent variable rate and a set up fee between £8,000 and £9,000.
"That rate is extremely high. It's not even fixed. What happens when the bank base rate rises? This is a massive outlay and we are still shopping around for that client.
"Seeing so-called 'deals' like that is a clear sign that many large lenders are just not interested."
Smaller, intermediary-facing lenders, such as Aldermore, have specialised divisions established to help contractors and self-employed clients who may not have more than two years' worth of relevant documentation.
Matt Andrews, managing director for Bluestone Mortgages, agrees: "We hear regularly from people with complicated incomes - those in IT who earn an enormous amount of money but combine employed work with self-employed work, or people who manage their business in a tax-efficient way.
"High-street lenders simply cannot interpret this."
Moreover, the more transparent the adviser can be, and the more prepared in terms of documentation, the better able the lender will be to make a decision for your client.
Says Charles Haresnape, group managing director of mortgages for Aldermore: "Some lenders will have the specialist knowledge to easily process an application, while others may have a less diverse product range, meaning you or your clients may have to make some slight adjustments to their plans.
"The most important factor is to stay as well informed as possible to be able confidently to steer your client, and to be clear and simple in your communication.
"Certain aspects of a deal will always be outside of one's control, but by being upfront and as prepared as possible from the outset, there should be very few challenges that cannot be overcome."
Mr Andrews adds that Bluestone Mortgages's first ever customer in the UK was a man who ran a successful business yet had been turned down by high-street lenders for a mortgage.
He comments: "His landlord had sold the premises and his rent had been doubled. He lost his profit and could not make the business survive.
"He spent the past three years rebuilding the business yet he could not get a loan elsewhere. This is the typical customer we see."
What do lenders need to know?
According to Mr Smith-Thompson, lenders need to know everything in minutiae, including the purpose of the request to remortgage to release cash, and they often frown upon releasing this for business purposes.
