UK horticulturist buys stunning old hall for £2.5m - exclusive interview.

Not many tenants turn their garden into an award-winning outdoor space. But that’s exactly what architectural designer and property developer Ken Roscoe did whilst living at Stretton Old Hall, a spectacular five-bedroom traditional farmhouse set in an eight-acre estate.

After renting and renovating the beautiful 17th century home and its grounds, Ken, the winner of Channel 4’s ‘Garden of the Year 2022’, and his husband decided that they wanted to buy the property they had spent a decade transforming into their dream home.

Ken spoke to us about the unexpected challenges they faced finding finance and how Together Premier helped to turn their property aspirations into a reality.

The idea

“We considered moving after completing the garden and extending the house, but we decided that we loved it so much that we wanted it to be our forever home,” said Ken.

The successful self-employed entrepreneur, who has over 25 years of experience developing hotels, restaurants and super-luxury properties for other successful individuals around the world, thought the process of securing a mortgage on the £2.5 million property would be plain sailing.

However, with multiple income streams as the director of nine different companies, Ken was finding it hard to prove his affordability with high street lenders. “As a self-employed property developer, you don’t always fit into the simplest of moulds when it comes to proving your income. You can’t just go to the mainstream banks and say ‘here’s my P60. Please can you give me a mortgage?’.”

He needed a lender who could use common sense when looking at his income, and who he could trust.

The enablement

As well as developing super-luxury properties across the globe, the property entrepreneur has also been responsible for building high-end houses and apartments closer to home – in Chester and Cheshire. Many projects were made possible with commercial finance from Together.

Ken said, “It seemed the natural choice to speak to Together about the mortgage borrowing for our own house.”

After contacting us, Ken was introduced to the Together Premier team, who knew exactly how to address the complexities of the mortgage deal. Assessing affordability based on Ken’s full income, we were able to quickly come to a decision and provide a large personal mortgage for the funds needed.

The result

With the purchase completed, Ken and his husband are able to enjoy the fabulous property they’ve invested their time and money into over the years. And, he thinks that other wealthy individuals looking for personal finance could swap the automated affordability checks and processes of the high street lenders for the bespoke, dedicated services of a specialist lender like Together.

“People’s incomes are becoming more and more complex, with us seeing a rise in well-paid consultants and others with multiple forms of revenue, so I think we’re going to see a greater need for specialist mortgage lenders such as Together, to provide a service for these kinds of borrowers” Ken told us.

With Together, affluent and successful individuals can access the larger loans they need to make their property ambitions a reality without delay.

Whether you need a personal mortgage to purchase your dream luxury property, a bridging loan to complete a purchase whilst you wait for your assets to be available, or a secured loan to transform your current house into your forever home; get in touch to find out how Together Premier can help.