Peter Greig, head of specialist originations at OSB Group, shares how the new specialist property solutions team is approaching complex property lending.
How will your 20+ years as a chartered surveyor and valuer shape your leadership of the new specialist property solutions team?
Prior to joining OSB Group, I worked for 12 years in private practice as a valuer, reporting to multiple lenders across residential and commercial properties, but also included development sites, investment portfolios and even hotels. Nurturing relationships with account managers was a key focus, together with delivering a positive customer outcome based on my expertise and knowledge so these skills have really been fundamental
In my new role heading up the Specialist Property Solutions (SPS) team, we need to utilise our deep market knowledge by considering each lending opportunity on its own merits as opposed to simply satisfying thresholds within a generic lending policy.
As a team, we deliver a lending proposal that reflects the specific property and its market, as well as an underwrite and completion journey that ensures we validate the elements of the case that really matter.
Finally, we have a safe peer review forum in which we can rely on our experience to collaborate and challenge one another to deliver an outcome for the applicant that also meets an acceptable risk profile for us.
Why has a specialist team been created for complex cases over £5m?
Through our reporting and market industry evaluation, we tracked that a number of buy to let investors were diversifying into semi-commercial property, as well as continuing to seek value-add opportunities from refurbishment or repurposing of existing properties.
Our sales and underwriting teams remain really well placed to support these cases, but we found that on the higher value applications, there was a need to step away from core lending policy in order to deliver the best possible outcome for the customer.
That’s the point at which the SPS team will now step in, to help shape a deal that reflects the strengths of the case and mitigate risks in the underlying property and borrower combination.
What types of property deals and client needs can your team now handle?
Our team can assist on cases that are a little unusual or don’t fit within our lending criteria but still present a good lending opportunity. The SPS team has been formed specifically to shape and support these loans by understanding and mitigating the material risks. This might include cases from existing portfolio landlords with high lending exposure.
Here we can take a holistic view across our wider pool of security and incorporate the risk mitigation this might provide. We are also seeing more refurbishment and repurposing bridging enquiries, as well as high value commercial term lending opportunities.
We are seeing more instances of transactions of companies and shares thereof, as opposed to the pure property assets within. On the applicant side, we are able to consider more complex ownership structures, including where owners are off-shore.
What major challenges do brokers and clients face in large, complex cases, and how does your team help?
In a fast-paced market, where lenders might prefer to take a generic approach to underwriting, it could be challenging for a broker to find a lender that takes the time to accurately review a customer’s circumstances.
This includes looking at their supporting property assets and reflecting on whether the overall risks exceed standard lending criteria. What’s vitally important is that we validate the parts that really matter in the risk profile of the loan, so we will look to ensure the conditions applied are absolutely relevant as we want to achieve that all important positive customer outcome.
How will your team support brokers at the pre-application stage for complex deals?
We work very closely with our select partners across commercial and bridging. They have direct access to the SPS team to discuss potential deals and we also have cases referred to us by the Specialist Finance Account Managers (SFAMs).
By having these early, no-obligation conversations, it allows us to ask the right questions so we can provide an early view on whether we can help support a lending solution.
Where required, the SPS team is happy to conduct site visits as well as present cases at the bi-weekly Transactional Credit Committee (TCC) to seek executive endorsement – this gives us a clear understanding of risk appetite.
How does your new team work with the existing teams, and what unique value do you add?
Essentially the team provides an extra layer of specialist support but as you would expect we all work very closely together. Within our team, we use our in-depth knowledge and experience in underwriting and asset classes to help advise and structure lending proposals which helps to ensure a smoother transaction from application to completion.
Can you share a recent complex case your team handled and what made it successful?
We recently completed a bridging loan on a former abattoir that was being acquired with a view to be refurbished as well as repurposed into an industrial and distribution park. It also had an off-shore applicant/ownership structure and it required the ability to look beyond the existing use and to understand the potential.Â
An early site visit was key to increase our understanding of this, as was our ability to ‘sell the vision’ to the TCC.
Since the loan completed we have revisited the property and we were impressed with the progress the borrower has made on as well as the range of tenants they have already secured. We are now looking at options to refinance onto a commercial term facility.
What advice do you have for brokers bringing high-value, complex cases to OSB Group?
The key piece of advice, no matter what the case, is to share the full picture with us. We are often asked specifically about loan to value (LTV) or property exceptions, but without a wider view of the applicant’s track record, experience, and wider assets & liabilities, it’s difficult to identify the broader risks. It’s always better to know the full story right from the start instead of stumbling across hurdles which will inevitably increase lead times and costs.
What are your priorities for the specialist team’s first year, and how will you measure success?
2025 is about us making solid foundations with brokers and their clients who require our team’s expertise, knowledge, and experience – showing the value of this added support. A key marker for success will be brokers using the team as a first port of call for larger or more unusual deals.
It’s a huge advantage that we are not restricted from a property or policy perspective, so feel free to challenge convention and ask us about the most weird and wonderful cases coming across your desk.
