ASC “secures the future of the business” for a car repair shop

In 2020 Wassim agreed to take on an industrial premises in West London, suitable for him to establish his car repairs business. The property was fire damaged and in return for paying no rent to the landlord he agreed to undertake the repairs at his own expense. He spent the next 6 months repairing the property, spending over £200,000, and was able to open for trading at the beginning of 2021.

At the conclusion of his first year’s trading, he entered negotiations with the landlord to formalise the lease to occupy. However, the full extent of the pandemic led to the landlord to choose to sell rather than let. This left Wassim in a tricky position – contemplate moving his business again at a great financial loss or to buy the property and commit to the mortgage. He decided to seek the later and ASC were contacted via his financial adviser.

The main challenge for finance was the limited trading period being less than two years. The business had been tremendously successful, benefitting from a greater propensity to repair and service vehicles over sales.

We approached a number of lenders and finally settled on a 70% advance of £1.54 million on a repayment mortgage over 20 years with the first 5 years fixed. The loan was approved late summer and the fixed rate of 6% was set providing completion took place by mid-November. Happily, with lots of negotiating with vendors, solicitors and the bank, that was achieved and Wassim was able to complete the purchase.

“I’m delighted that we were able to secure the future of our business. ASC made sure we didn’t miss the deadline – Giles was great in dealing with the solicitors to get it done! Our borrowing costs now are well below the rent we were originally paying”