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6 July 2026
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Current Bank Base Rate: 3.75%
Current Bank Base Rate: 3.75%
Welcome to Advocate Finance, your trusted mortgage broker for investment mortgages.
Find out how lenders view Family Investment Companies.
Family Investment Companies, often shortened to FICs, can vary significantly from one structure to another.
In some cases, a Family Investment Company may be relatively straightforward from a lender’s point of view. It may simply be a UK limited company used to hold investment property, with ordinary shares, standard directors and shareholders, and property investment SIC codes.
In other cases, the structure may be more sophisticated. It may include different share classes, trust arrangements, multiple generations of family shareholders, or wider succession and inheritance tax planning considerations.
The key point is that a more complex ownership structure does not automatically mean property finance is unavailable.
The structure needs to be understood before the lender can be selected.
Advocate Finance works with an extensive panel of specialist property lenders and can help identify lenders that may be comfortable with both straightforward and more complex Family Investment Company structures.
The phrase Family Investment Company can sometimes make a company sound more complex than it actually is.
Some FICs are, in practice, similar to conventional property investment companies or property SPVs. They may be used mainly to hold investment property and have a relatively simple ownership structure.
For example, a straightforward FIC may be:
In these cases, the finance requirement may be very similar to a conventional limited company buy-to-let or commercial property transaction.
The lender will still need to understand the company, the property, the shareholders, the directors and the source of deposit. However, the structure may not necessarily create significant additional complexity.
At the other end of the scale, some Family Investment Companies are created as part of wider family wealth, succession or estate planning.
These structures may have been established following specialist tax, trust or legal advice. They may be designed to allow older generations to retain control while passing future economic value to children, grandchildren or other family members.
A more sophisticated FIC structure may include:
These structures are not necessarily a problem, but they do need to be understood properly.
A lender will want to know who owns the company, who controls it, who benefits economically and who may need to provide guarantees. If trusts are involved, the lender may also need to understand the trustee position and how the shares are held.
Advocate Finance does not provide tax, trust or estate planning advice. Clients should always seek their own specialist legal and tax advice when establishing, restructuring or reviewing a Family Investment Company.
Our role is to help with the finance implications of the structure.
Different lenders have different attitudes towards Family Investment Companies.
Some lenders are comfortable with straightforward limited company property investment structures but may be less comfortable where there are trusts, multiple share classes, corporate shareholders or more complex control arrangements.
Potential lender concerns may include:
This means a company that falls outside one lender’s criteria may still be acceptable to another lender.
The issue is not always whether finance is possible. Often, the issue is whether the case is being placed with a lender that understands the structure and is comfortable with it.
This is particularly important with Family Investment Companies.
Submitting a case to a standard limited company buy-to-let lender without first checking the ownership structure can create delays or problems later in the process.
A lender may initially appear suitable based on the property, deposit and rental income. However, if the lender later decides the shareholding structure, trust involvement or guarantee position does not fit its criteria, the application may not proceed.
A better approach is to understand the structure at the outset.
This usually means identifying:
Once these points are understood, the finance can be matched to a lender whose criteria are more likely to fit the structure.
A husband and wife own a UK limited company that holds several investment properties. The company uses a standard property investment SIC code and has ordinary shares.
From a lender’s perspective, this may be treated in a similar way to a conventional property SPV.
The lender will still review the company, directors, shareholders, property, rental income and deposit source, but the ownership structure itself may be relatively straightforward.
Parents retain voting or control shares, while other share classes participate in future growth. Some shares are held by trustees of a discretionary trust for the benefit of children or grandchildren.
This type of structure may reduce the number of lenders available. However, that does not automatically mean finance is unavailable.
Specialist lenders may still be comfortable providing finance once the ownership, control, trustee position and guarantee requirements are clearly understood.
Family Investment Companies may hold or acquire different types of property, so the right finance route will depend on the asset and strategy.
Advocate Finance can help assess options across areas such as:
Because lender appetite for FICs can vary significantly, access to a broad lender panel is particularly important.
Rather than trying to force the structure into a lender’s standard criteria, Advocate Finance can look for lenders that are more naturally aligned with the ownership structure and property type.
A complex Family Investment Company structure can make the finance process more detailed, but it does not automatically prevent borrowing.
In many cases, the important factor is making sure the structure is clearly explained before approaching lenders.
This helps avoid wasted time with lenders whose policies are unlikely to fit and allows the case to be presented to more suitable lenders from the outset.
For borrowers, accountants, tax advisers and professional introducers, this can be especially useful where the structure has been created for wider family wealth or succession planning reasons, but property finance is still needed.
Family Investment Companies are sometimes established following specialist tax and estate planning advice, including as part of longer-term inheritance tax and succession planning.
Advocate Finance does not provide tax, trust or estate planning advice. We also do not advise on whether a Family Investment Company should be established or how it should be structured.
Clients should always obtain appropriate legal, tax and trust advice before setting up, restructuring or transferring assets into a Family Investment Company.
Our role is to help clients understand the property finance options that may be available once the structure and ownership position are clear.
If you are looking to finance property through a Family Investment Company, speak to Advocate Finance before assuming that the ownership structure will restrict your options.
Whether the FIC is a straightforward property investment company or incorporates trusts, multiple share classes or more sophisticated family ownership arrangements, our extensive lender panel means we can assess the structure and identify lenders most likely to accommodate it.
We can help with finance for buy-to-let property, HMOs, multi-unit blocks, commercial investment property, semi-commercial property, bridging, refurbishment and development projects.
The structure needs to be understood before the lender can be selected.
Contact Advocate Finance for a free initial assessment.
A Family Investment Company is not usually a separate legal entity in itself. It is generally a term used to describe a company established and structured for family investment, wealth planning or property ownership purposes.
Yes, it may be possible. The options available will depend on the company structure, ownership, directors, shareholders, property type, deposit, income and lender criteria.
No. Lender appetite can vary significantly. Some lenders may be comfortable with straightforward property investment companies, while others may have restrictions around trusts, share classes, corporate shareholders or personal guarantees.
Yes, some structures may involve shares being held by trustees, potentially for the benefit of children, grandchildren or other family members. This can make the lender assessment more detailed, so specialist advice is important.
No. Advocate Finance does not provide tax, trust or estate planning advice. Clients should speak to suitable legal and tax advisers about the structure itself. Advocate Finance can advise on the finance options connected to the property and company structure.
Advocate Finance can help with limited company buy-to-let, HMO finance, multi-unit block finance, commercial investment mortgages, semi-commercial mortgages, bridging finance, refurbishment finance and development finance.
