Livemore promotes Wellard to senior proposition manager

Livemore promotes Wellard to senior proposition manager

Wellard will develop new propositions at Livemore, and the third role has been created to focus on the pricing and development of existing propositions.

He has worked at the company for more than two years, initially as product manager for mortgages.

Prior to that, he was product manager at Aldermore for more than five years, and before that, was product development manager for over nine years at British Gas.

The lender has also appointed Samantha Ward as the head of proposition strategy and development, and she will lead the development of products and ownership of credit risk.

Leon Diamond, CEO of Livemore, said: “Samantha’s two decades of expertise will help drive us towards greater innovation and customer-centric solutions, while her vision and strategic leadership skills will also be invaluable.

“I am equally delighted to promote Tim Wellard, whose hard work has been evident in our breadth of product delivery achieved to date.

“We are excited to embark on this new journey with Samantha and Tim, as we continue to empower our clients to keep living the life they love through our tailored mortgage solutions.”

Livemore has been growing its team, recently appointing Les Pick as its director of intermediary sales.

It has also appointed Nicola Palmer as key account manager for the South West and Lisa Kemp as a telephone business development manager (BDM).

Livemore appoints Ward as proposition strategy and development head

Livemore appoints Ward as proposition strategy and development head

Ward initially joined Livemore as a financial services consultant in September and has now permanently joined the firm.

Prior to Livemore, she had worked at Dudley Building Society since 2001, initially working as a mortgage assistant and working her way up to head of lending in 2016, head of commercial in 2018 and then commercial director in 2020.

Livemore has been growing its team, recently appointing Les Pick as its director of intermediary sales.

It has also appointed Nicola Palmer as key account manager for the South West and Lisa Kemp as a telephone business development manager (BDM).

The lender has also introduced 100 per cent debt consolidation on mortgages up to £1m, widened its property criteria and lowered rates by up to 0.71 per cent.

Leon Diamond, CEO of Livemore, said: “I’m thrilled to welcome Samantha to Livemore as our new head of proposition strategy and development. Samantha’s two decades of expertise will help drive us towards greater innovation and customer-centric solutions, while her vision and strategic leadership skills will also be invaluable.

“We are excited to embark on this new journey with Samantha, as we continue to empower our clients to keep living the life they love through our tailored mortgage solutions.”

‘Why would anyone be a landlord?’ ‒ Star Letter 16/02/2024

‘Why would anyone be a landlord?’ ‒ Star Letter 16/02/2024

This week’s first comments come from the piece: No fault evictions to be banned by next election, Gove says

Arron190 said: “So, the ‘small minority of unscrupulous landlords’ are responsible for legislation to support a much larger minority of bad tenants causing many good landlords to leave the market?

“A client was renting to an awful family that screamed and swore throughout the night. Both mother and father were thugs, and the neighbours were terrified. Under the current law, they found the owner, who simply said they were not renewing their tenancy.

“Under the new law, they would have to put their names on the record against two thugs and hope the court case is heard in weeks and not months. Why would anyone be a landlord?”

Boris added: “They want to increase housing supply; but they have waged war on landlords. This on top of taxing rental income on turnover, instead of net profit. Truly bizarre how far to the left these Conservative governments have drifted. I never thought I would see a Liberal government in my lifetime; but here we are.”

 

‘Lack of infrastructure’ reason brownfields undeveloped

This week’s next comment is in response to the piece: Councils ordered to make it easier to build on brownfield land

Arron190 said: “The reason many councils resist is because of lack of infrastructure. Developers have been building for years and either defer infrastructure to post-completion of the housing or pass over cash. However, the areas can suffer problems with congested roads, lack of school places and no local doctor.”

 

Stamp duty is ‘iniquitous form of taxation’

The final set of comments come from the piece: Appropriate homes will move dallying downsizers, not a stamp duty giveaway – Wilson

John Emmett said: “Stamp duty is an iniquitous form of taxation and a barrier to mobility in the job market and downsizing. If the thresholds were increased, or the tax even dispensed with, there would be an increase in turnover in the selling and purchase markets, which would benefit all.

“Downsizing was an option 10 to 15 years ago, but no longer. In this part of the world, near the sea and New Forest, when a bungalow comes onto the market, invariably, they are purchased by developers.

He continued: “Next, it is stripped, with one wall left standing and then rebuilt with bedrooms on a new first floor and the ground floor converted into an open plan living space. The property then goes back on the market. The price is often more than double the price originally paid, and given the location near the sea, sold within days. These properties are more expensive than established detached houses just further back inland.

“Large old houses are pulled down and apartments built. Again, these are very expensive and not much cheaper than houses. Car parking is restricted to one space or, if lucky, a garage per apartment. Not all retirees want to give up their cars.”

 

The comments here are from our readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions.

 

Over a third of buy-to-let landlords plan to grow portfolios

Over a third of buy-to-let landlords plan to grow portfolios

A national report by Together, which surveyed 500 respondents who had taken out a commercial mortgage in the past with at least four properties in their portfolio, found that only 10 per cent of buy-to-let landlords are cautious about the outlook of their business in the year ahead.

It added that a quarter are planning to refinance properties in the next year to fund growth.

The study also found that around 44 per cent of respondents were de-risking and shrinking portfolios and 14 per cent exited the market altogether.

However, the vast majority of buy-to-let landlords are committed to increase their portfolios as inflation had fallen below five per cent.

Over half of all respondents would recommend others to invest in UK commercial property and 42 per cent have seen an increase in revenue in the last 12 months.

Around 16 per cent of commercial landlords were exiting altogether, but this provides opportunity for a “new generation of professional landlords and developers to step in”.

 

Nearly half buy-to-let landlords would use specialist lender

Around 42 per cent of all respondents say they would prioritise using a specialist lender over a mainstream one in the next 12 months should they need extra additional financing for commercial property cases.

Over a third, 39 per cent, said that specialist lenders were prepared to take a greater interest, grant larger loans and support entrepreneurial plans, 29 per cent said that they were faster and another 29 per cent said that they provide the best level of service.

Meanwhile, buy-ti-let landlords noted that government support is vital to address the lack of housing stock, with 20 per cent of UK professionals keen for the skills shortage in the building trade to be address and 18 per cent wanting a review of rising costs of materials and labour.

Chris Baguley, group channel development director at Together, said: “The short, sharp shock in interest rates since the Covid years triggered some cautiousness in the commercial market while investors were trying to predict where the peak would be.

“With rates settling, while there is still an overall flattening; activity is returning as the sector reacclimatises to the new environment. At Together, we are still funding more than a thousand completions a month, highlighting the underlying appetite in the market.”

He added: “What continues to be apparent is the clear optimism and enduring health of the commercial sector. The winners of 2024 and beyond will be those who are able to seek out new opportunities, spot where best to create value and use the right financing to capitalise on emerging growth sectors.”

Rob Thomas, economist and principal researcher at the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) said: “The improving outlook we can see in our macroeconomic forecast, coupled with supportive structural factors such as rising population and constrained supply due mainly to planning constraints, allows for a recovery in property prices and markets from 2025, picking up momentum from 2026 onwards.

“This in turn supports a recovery in lending to these markets despite what has been a tougher financial environment.”

L&C signs specialist finance partnership and looks to future

L&C signs specialist finance partnership and looks to future

L&C, also the UK’s largest fee-free mortgage broker, confirmed a partnership with specialist comparison site Propp.io in early September for customer referrals with specialist property finance needs.

The collaboration will allow L&C’s clients to receive advice and support when it comes to obtaining specialist finance, with a focus on commercial, bridging, second charge, and development finance.

Young said at the time: “I’m committed to expanding our leading advice service further and so am delighted to take another step on that road and enhance our specialist proposition in partnership with Propp. Specialist finance is likely to be a growing need for our customers and Propp’s team are experts in the specialist space.”

Speaking to Mortgage Solutions, Rickards added: “When it comes to diversification, we’re not afraid to change. If it’s change for good, and it means that we can evolve our business, then we’ll change.”

Young continued: “But the key part will be having specialists within each mortgage area, so the customers are fed to the buy-to-let team or the high-net worth team in the London office, making sure that no matter where they come from they go to the relevant broker.”

L&C has 340 mortgage and 97 protection advisers on its employed staff roster and company-wide staff of around a thousand. Young has been CEO for just over a year, with a cross-sector CV taking in GMAC, ULS Technology, John Charcol and Landmark data before joining the firm.

Rickards, who joined shortly after his CEO, says he and Young have a really good understanding of each other after working together at various times and even had a mentoring relationship for two years.

“I was honoured to be approached about this role to be part of an amazing business I have worked with historically on the other side for over 20 years. It may have come a little early, as I was going to do a couple more years with LBG before retiring gracefully,” said Rickards, “but then I heard Alan was coming on board and made the decision.”

 

No consumer fees

On fee-charging, they confirmed they have no plans to change that strategy in the longer term, especially in the new era of Consumer Duty, which leaves them very well-positioned no matter how many other broker bosses call him up to tell him otherwise, says Young.

Rickards says: “The plan of action is to maintain that strategy for as long as we can as a business. We feel like it’s the right thing to do for our customers. It’s worked for L&C for the last 20 years plus and if things became very, very difficult in the future it is always nice to have that in your back pocket should it be needed, but it’s certainly not our intention to charge fees.”

But questioned on strategic plans, Young said: “We have an incredible opportunity to look at lots of different avenues and opportunities. When you look at the volume of mortgages we write, £13.5bn last year, we have a lot of customers coming to L&C and we have to do what’s right for them.”

Gamekeeper turned poacher

Rickards has spent 38 years in financial services, 30 of them with BM Solutions, the largest buy-to-let specialist lender in the mortgage market, before joining L&C. One of the qualities he brings to the broker is the experience to help a relatively new executive team “shape their thinking” and scan the horizon.

He continued: “It’s the battle scars of going through market downturns four or five times in a 30-year period and navigating your way through them. It may look like the end of the world, but it never is, and the market always comes back that little bit stronger.” Through mentorship, the team is already planning for the time when it returns, Rickards added.

L&C says it has done a lot of work on its internal technology in the era of Consumer Duty to harness both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the massive amount of data the broker holds and generates.

Young  said: “Someone said to me the other day that data is the new oil in this market and L&C is Dubai.”

“We are going to lead the way on how this plays through and there will be a lot more to come on that front. Making sure that we know, no matter where the customer comes from, exactly what happens and making sure we handhold them throughout the whole process,” he added.

“It’s making sure you give the customers what they want at the time that they want it throughout the homebuying process. That’s what we’re working through.”

Young suggests on Consumer Duty, harnessing AI and using tech to predict behaviour makes him very comfortable on satisfying the regulatory requirements. Equally, he says AI will never replace the adviser, but better “support” the consumer and broker in the future, with further announcements to come on that too. He added on AI, that the process won’t look like a big bang, but a series of tests and process changes because there won’t be “one silver bullet” that changes everything.

 

Working patterns

Young remains very relaxed about how and where his brokers choose to work saying “it’s about results”.

“Now, we leave it to our guys, because, for me, it’s about output. So if people want to come into the office, whether it be Newcastle, Bath, or London, they can, if they want to work remotely or come in once a week they can.”

And the results? “It’s a mix. So, we did a lot of staff surveys. Everybody’s different.”

As a result staff attrition has been low, he said, and the firm has done a lot of work on office culture and says its well-positioned to “satisfy everybody’s needs”, including a virtual office set up for roughly 70 of its staff.

Rickards said on staff motivation and the L&C culture change: “Alan’s spot on here. I’ve attended some of the vision and values calls that he holds and have never seen a chief executive of a business, big, small, medium sized, have such an open way of conducting himself with any member of staff. And that’s filtering its way through the whole organisation.”

Rickards, who is conducting one to ones with all the senior management team, added: “People appreciate being listened to.”

Before the appointments of Young and Rickards, the company saw loss-making years post-pandemic, but is looking to the future. L&C is working hard to involve and inspire and evolve its staff in the delivery of this new vision.

 

 

Alan Young CV: U18 England cap to CEO

After years being nurtured by the Swindon Town youth system, Alan Young made his debut for Swindon Town aged 17 on 6 January 2001. He played 26 matches for Swindon and trained for a period with Celtic under manager Kenny Dalglish, including a call up for the England U18 squad where he trained alongside many of the greats.

“I was the only player in the under-18 England squad never to have played in the Premier League. I played alongside Jermaine Pennant, Jermain Defoe, Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney – he was very shy, very quiet. But he was a fantastic personality and would light up a dressing room. The mentality among these players being, you get out what you put in. The harder you work, the luckier you get. All of them stayed behind to put in even more work to make themselves world class.”

Injury, recovery and further injury led him to a heartbreaking retirement decision at 20 years old and a job at GM in Bracknell.

Young’s father, Andy Young, was CEO of TBMC and good friends with Stephen Knight at GMAC who asked Young if he wanted to come and work at the firm, and he started off in the call centre working 9am to 5:30pm.“It was quite a culture shock,” noted Young.

 

 

 

Castle Trust unveils drawdown heavy refurb loan

Castle Trust unveils drawdown heavy refurb loan

The deal includes a drawdown facility, which the lender said offers borrowers greater flexibility over when they access the funds for the project.

The product has been designed to finance conversions, such as turning a house into flats, HMO conversions, or adapting commercial into residential properties.

The heavy refurbishment deal is available at up to 75 per cent loan-to-value net, with a loan-to-gross-development-value of 70 per cent. It can be used for works of up to a maximum of £1m, with a minimum drawdown of £50,000. Borrowers can make use of up to five drawdowns across the duration of the product.

The heavy refurbishment bridging loan has an 18-month term, and is available on loans ranging from £250,000 to £5m. It comes with a rate of 0.99 per cent and a 2.25 per cent arrangement fee. A further one per cent fee is charged on each drawdown.

Castle Trust’s range includes products for heavy refurbishment and light refurbishment as well as a bridge which can be used for chain breaks, auctions and development exits.

The use of net LTV calculations means that fees and interest can be added to the loan above the maximum LTVs.

Anna Lewis (pictured), commercial director at Castle Trust, said the lender was looking to enhance its proposition and had picked up on the appetite among investors taking on heavy refurbishment projects to cut the overall cost of borrowing by only drawing down the funds as and when needed.

She continued: “With our new heavy refurbishments with drawdowns product, borrowers only pay interest on the total balance of the loan they have drawn down. This means they are not wasting money by holding borrowed money but can instead stagger their borrowing for when they have costs to fund.”

Last month Castle Trust updated its bridging range by adding sale and refinance options, as well as launching new fixed rate products.

Know Your BDM: Neil Cadwallader, Family BS

Know Your BDM: Neil Cadwallader, Family BS

What locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role? 

I cover Gloucester and Cheltenham, south Wales and the South West of England, down to the Devon-Cornwall border. In my previous role as a BDM for Coventry Building Society I covered much of the same ground, so I know the mortgage brokers and other intermediaries well. In addition to the 800 or so brokers I know from my Coventry days, who I am introducing to the Family, I also have a further 1,000 prospective brokers on my patch. Some 90 per cent of mortgage applications come from brokers, so keeping them up to date about the Family’s offerings is very important. I have set myself a target of a dozen or so face-to- face meetings a week. 

 

What personal talent/skill is most valuable in your role? 

Building relationships and trust is the most valuable skill, but that is only the start. Maintaining and building a reputation is the key to doing a good job. You must ensure that you deliver. My maxim is “do what you say you will do”. 

 

What personal talent/skill would you most like to improve on? 

Communication is vital. Zoom and other video calls are helpful particularly when making contact with brokers at larger, national firms or where people no longer go to the office and work from home. However, they are very much second best to face-to-face meetings, particularly when making an introduction for the first time. 

I would like to improve my social media skills. Whilst the Family Building Society has a slick marketing and social media presence, it is very important to improve visibility for both the Family and myself. 

 

What is the hardest part of your job? 

Breaking into new areas and booking appointments with new brokers, just the same as every other BDM in the UK. 

 

What do you love most about your job? 

Meeting new and well-known brokers. The relationship is a two-way thing, work and personal life blurs a little with the role. 

 

What is the best piece of career-related advice you’ve ever been given? Who gave it to you? 

“Under promise, overachieve” and “Do what you say you will do” are the adages of an old Safeway supermarket store manager from Swansea, Richard Harvey, a great manager of people. 

  

How do you keep up to date with developments in the market? 

I subscribe to all the usual mortgage and financial websites as well as the magazines that are still published. Industry topics are of course discussed with brokers and colleagues when we meet. I was an IFA and pension adviser in a previous career, and I also keep up with developments in that sector. 

 

What is the most quirky/unique property deal you’ve been involved in? 

A large property in England that “may or may not” have had a private airfield in its grounds… we will never know. 

 

Tell us about your trickiest case – what happened and how did you resolve the problem(s)? 

We managed to complete a deal in three working days from the offer, from an accountant introducer to one of my larger accounts. A combination of underwriter, completions and legal teams working together avoided what could have been a very costly mistake by the applicant. 

 

What was your motivation for choosing this career? 

I actually like finance (I’m very sad) and, as my partner would say, “I like talking”. 

 

If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why? 

I would become an estate agent, but with a mission to change the current perception of estate agents.  

Spring Budget 2023: Investment zones confirmed along with regeneration and Levelling Up partnerships

Spring Budget 2023: Investment zones confirmed along with regeneration and Levelling Up partnerships

In the Spring Budget today, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed that it would deliver 12 “investment zones” across the UK, which he called 12 “potential Canary Wharfs”.

Canary Wharf was a regeneration project undertaken by a previous Conservative government, which was praised by Hunt in his speech.

He continued that it had identified the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Midlands, Teesside and Liverpool as areas that could host an “investment zone”.

Hunt added that there would be at least one in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with four in total across these areas.

“To be chosen, each area must identify a location where they can operate both an imaginative partnership between local government and the university or research institutes in a way that catalyses new innovation clusters,” he explained.

Hunt added that if the application was successful, they would have access to £80m of support over five years for a “range of interventions” including skills, infrastructure, tax relief, business rates retention and grant funding.

The Chancellor said that each cluster would “drive growth” in at least one area such as green industries, digital technologies, life sciences, creative industries and advanced manufacturing.

 

Government to invest £200m in regeneration projects

Hunt added that the government would provide over £200m in funding to 16 high quality local regeneration projects in England.

The Budget report added that the projects would start from this year and investment had been aimed at “left-behind places” cited in the Levelling Up white paper or were under £10m and could ensure quick delivery.

This includes projects in Wigan, Blackpool, Tendring, Kirklees, Telford and Wrekin, Salford, Waltham Forest, East Suffolk, Sandwell, Redcar and Cleveland, Tameside, Blackburn with Darwen, Wolverhampton, Northumberland, Rotherham and North East Lincolcnshire.

The report added that £58m would be invested in three Levelling Up capital projects in the Northwest, including in Stockport, Bootle and Rossendale.

The Community Ownership Fund, which offers funding to areas across the UK to allow community groups to take ownership of assets at risk of closure, has received further funding to back an additional 30 projects.

 

Up to £400m on Levelling Up partnerships

Hunt added that the government would provide a further £400m for Levelling Up partnerships to fuel local growth.

This includes areas such as City of Kingston upon Hull, Sandwell, Mansfield, Middlesborough, Blackburn with Darwen, Hastings, Torbay, Tendring, Stoke on Trent, Boston, Redcar and Cleveland, Wakefield, Oldham, Rother, Torridge, Walsall, Doncaster, South Tyneside, Rochdale and Bassetlaw.

The Budget report said that investment would be decided an on a “case-by-case basis” and in each place, the government would work with local leaders, council mayors and combined authorities, local businesses, community organisations and residents to “identify and address the biggest barriers to levelling up”.

The report added that a third round of the Levelling Up fund would process as planned for later this year with a further £1bn to “level up places in the UK”.

Government launches pilot to help mid-rise buildings with ‘extortionate’ cladding bills

Government launches pilot to help mid-rise buildings with ‘extortionate’ cladding bills

The department said that the pilot was opened from today and would be more widely rolled out next year. It added that it would be the “biggest” building safety scheme in operation.

It said that improvements would be funded by the £3bn Building Safety Levy, and aims to cover buildings between 11 and 18 metres tall where a developer “cannot be traced or held responsible for remediation works”.

The levy was announced in February last year and aims to “ensure the taxpayer and leaseholders do not pay for the necessary remediation of building safety defects”. The consultation for proposals for the levy opened last week.

The department said that 60 buildings across England have been invited to apply for the pilot from today.

Homes England will run the pilot and ensure that building owners and freeholders in the building “get the help they need to assess and fix fire safety defects”.

Minister for local government and building safety Lee Rowley said: “This is an important step forward for leaseholders who have been trapped in unsafe, unsellable homes with unfair costly repair bills for far too long.

“Building owners have the responsibility to get essential cladding repairs done and this scheme will help ensure this happens.”

He added: “We are taking action to protect innocent leaseholders and ensure they are safe and secure in their homes. I will be monitoring progress very closely as we work towards the launch next year.”

The department said that the scheme builds on “significant progress” made on building safety and protecting leaseholders from “unfair costs”. It pointed to the Building Safety Fund for 18 metre-plus building, the ACM funds and pledges by developers of at least £2bn to fix their own building defects.

Govt ‘to drop affordable homes targets and extend permitted developments’ ‒ reports

Govt ‘to drop affordable homes targets and extend permitted developments’ ‒ reports

According to The Times, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities plans to adjust the threshold at which point developers must include affordable houses within their developments. That threshold is currently set at developments with 10 homes, but may be increased to 40 or 50, the reports suggest.

It was a move previously consulted on when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister, but was abandoned in the face of opposition.

Stripping back the affordable housing requirement is one of a host of measures reportedly outlined by the levelling up secretary, Simon Clarke (pictured), to the Prime Minister, with the aim of boosting economic growth.

A further measure would be expanding the current permitted development rules, with the aim of making it easier to add extensions and extra floors to properties without having to obtain formal planning permission.

Clarke is also believed to be preparing to drop legislation around banning no-fault evictions by landlords.

Removing no-fault evictions was a manifesto commitment, and had been promoted by Michael Gove when he was levelling up secretary.

Figures published by the department earlier this year revealed there had been a significant increase in the number of no fault evictions taking place.