Getting commercial mortgages for your clients

But Mr Gerstler believes the commercial mortgage market is “ripe for a shake up”.

He asserts: “The commercial mortgage market is very different from the residential/BTL mortgage market. The majority of residential/BTL lenders have good people and systems in place to process applications.”

He suggests this is lacking among the majority of commercial lenders, however.

“Everything appears to be very much dependent on getting the right person at the lender to take ownership of your application, and want to see it through to completion. In theory, getting a commercial mortgage should be as simple as getting a residential mortgage, but it does not feel like it at times,” says Mr Gerstler.

This emphasises the need to understand the requirements of the lender and to ensure whether it is the adviser approaching the lender on a client’s behalf, or the customer going directly to the lender, that they have the correct and up-to-date information at their disposal.

eleanor.duncan@ft.com