Mortgage advice from Poole, for clients across the UK
Independent advice from our office on Parkstone Road. Whatever you are buying — a first home, an HMO, a holiday let or something on the water — we have access to the whole of the intermediary market.
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Where we are, who we act for
A Poole office, and clients all over the country
We advise clients everywhere in the UK — a mortgage is arranged by phone, video and email wherever you live. Having an office here simply means we see this market every day, and that shows in the advice.
The area throws up more awkward cases than most: student and hospital HMOs, holiday lets along the coast, leasehold flats around the harbour, some of the most expensive property in the country at Sandbanks and Branksome Park, one of Europe’s largest housing estates at Canford Heath, a busy rental market through Parkstone and Bournemouth, and new build going up across the region. No two cases are the same, and lenders treat each of them differently.
Local property, real lending
What we see here, and what it means for your mortgage
Each of these is something we deal with regularly around Poole and Bournemouth, and the lending point it raises.
Student and professional HMOs
Bournemouth, Winton, Charminster, Boscombe
The universities, the hospital and the colleges keep a steady demand for shared houses. Most high-street lenders will not touch an HMO. The specialists that do want to see the licence, cap the number of lettable rooms, and above a certain size value the property on its rental income rather than on what the house next door sold for. Where an Article 4 direction applies, converting a family house needs planning permission — worth checking with BCP Council before you commit.
What we do: We work out before you offer whether the property is lendable as an HMO, and at what rate, so you are not three weeks in before you find out.
Holiday lets
Boscombe, Southbourne, Swanage and the Purbecks
A standard buy-to-let mortgage does not cover a property let out by the week — doing it anyway is a breach of the mortgage conditions. Holiday-let mortgages are a smaller market, mostly building societies. They assess affordability on an average of low, mid and high season rates, usually evidenced by a letting agent’s projection, and most want you to already own your own home.
What we do: We match the property to the handful of lenders who actually want it, and sense-check the income projection before it goes in.
Flats and leases
The harbour, Poole town centre, Bournemouth town centre
Flats are where deals fall over late. Lenders have a minimum lease length and most want a good number of years left at the end of the mortgage term, not just today — so a lease in the eighties can rule out a 30-year term with one lender and not another. Ground rent clauses that double, flats above shops or takeaways, and taller blocks needing building-safety paperwork all narrow the list.
What we do: We ask for the lease details at the start, not at valuation, and pick a lender whose criteria the lease actually meets.
Estate houses and ex-local authority
Canford Heath, Turlin Moor, West Howe
Canford Heath is widely described as one of the largest housing estates in Europe, and there is a lot of sensible, affordable family housing across it and the other estates. Most of it is straightforward. Where it is not, it is usually construction type or ex-council flats: some lenders restrict flats in blocks above a certain height or want a proportion of the block privately owned, and non-standard construction cuts the lender list sharply.
What we do: We identify the construction type before the application, so the valuation is not the first time anyone looks at it.
Large loans
Sandbanks, Canford Cliffs, Branksome Park, Lilliput
Above roughly a million, lending stops being a tick-box exercise. Fewer lenders play, deposit requirements step up in bands, and underwriting is done by a person rather than a system — which is an advantage if your income is bonus-heavy, self-employed, from a company or from more than one country. Interest-only and part-and-part are more available at this level than most people assume, provided the repayment plan stands up.
What we do: We take the case to the lenders and private banks that underwrite individually, and present the income properly rather than hoping a calculator copes with it.
Buy-to-let and portfolios
Parkstone, Poole, Bournemouth
There is a long-established rental market right through Parkstone, Poole and Bournemouth. Once you have four or more mortgaged buy-to-lets you are a portfolio landlord, and the rules change: the lender stress-tests the whole portfolio, not just the property you are buying, and wants a schedule of properties and usually a business plan and cashflow. Whether to hold in your own name or in a limited company changes the tax position and the lender choice.
What we do: We look at the whole portfolio before recommending the next mortgage, and work with your accountant on the ownership question rather than around them.
New builds
Wimborne and across the region
Three things catch people out. Mortgage offers have a shelf life, and on a plot that completes later than expected the offer can expire before the keys appear — some lenders extend, some re-underwrite. Builder incentives such as a paid deposit, paid stamp duty or upgrades are reported to the lender and, above a limit, reduce what it will lend. And lenders often cap the loan-to-value more tightly on new build flats than on houses.
What we do: We pick a lender whose offer period fits the build timetable, and get the incentives declared properly up front.
Armed Forces buyers
Hamworthy, Wool and Blandford
With Royal Marines at Hamworthy, the camps at Wool and Bovington and Blandford Camp all within reach, we look after a lot of serving personnel locally. Forces Help to Buy is accepted by lenders, but not all of them treat it the same way: the monthly repayment comes out of your affordability, and some lenders count more of your allowances and supplements as income than others. Postings are the other thing — buying somewhere you may be posted away from usually means planning for it to be let out later.
What we do: We pick a lender that treats service income and the Forces Help to Buy repayment properly, and set the mortgage up so a future posting does not cause a problem.
Second homes and coastal property
The whole coast
A second home on the coast is a residential mortgage, not a buy-to-let — the lender has to be satisfied you can afford both mortgages from your income, and some restrict how much you may let it out. Stamp duty is the bigger number, because the additional property surcharge applies on top of the standard rates.
What we do: We run the affordability on both properties before you commit, and give you the stamp duty figure in writing.
And the ordinary ones
Everywhere in between
Most of what we do is not unusual: first-time buyers across Poole and Bournemouth, families moving up, remortgages coming off a fixed rate, and people reshaping a mortgage for the last stretch. Commercial lending, bridging and second charge loans go through trusted packagers where that is the right answer — as in the HMO case below, where the purchase only worked on a bridge.
What we do: Same approach either way: access to the whole of the intermediary market, one advisor, and a straight answer about what you can borrow before you go looking.
What it costs to buy here
Local prices, and the deposit behind them
Average sale prices across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, from the Land Registry’s own figures.
As a rough guide on deposits: 5% is enough for many first-time buyer lenders on a house, 25% is the usual starting point for buy-to-let, holiday lets and larger HMOs ask for more, and new build flats are often capped at a lower loan-to-value than houses.
Check a monthly paymentONS and HM Land Registry, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, July 2026.
The number people underestimate
Stamp duty at local prices
First-time buyers pay nothing up to £300,000 and lose the relief entirely above £500,000 — which matters here, because plenty of first purchases sit close to that line.
Buying any additional property adds a 5% surcharge on the whole price, and non-UK residents add a further 2%.
Work out your stamp dutyEngland and Northern Ireland rates for UK residents, at today’s rates. Examples only — check your own figure on the calculator.
Cases we have done
Two that needed more than a calculator
Real cases, with the details kept general. Every case is different and nothing here is a promise of the same outcome.
A house no lender would touch, turned into a five-bedroom HMO
A client wanted to buy a four-bedroom house with two reception rooms that needed significant refurbishment. In its condition it was unlettable, which also made it unmortgageable — no buy-to-let lender would lend on it as it stood. He wanted to buy through a limited company, using deposit funds from his other trading company, and turn it into a quality five-bedroom HMO.
We raised a bridging loan to buy the property and to leave enough in the transaction to carry out the full refurbishment. With bridging, the exit is what matters most, and the exit here was a limited company buy-to-let HMO remortgage — a lender who would lend against the higher value after the works and against the rent from five lettable rooms, not against what the house was worth on day one.
The remortgage let him take most of his own money back out and move it straight into the next one. Textbook refinance.
A Sandbanks second home the bank had already turned down
A London-based client wanted a holiday home in Sandbanks. He had a strong deposit, but his London home still had a mortgage on it, so that payment and the running costs of both properties had to be built into the affordability.
He and his wife had already hit a wall with their own bank over the way it calculated their income. Like a lot of business owners they do not draw everything out of the company, and the bank would only look at salary and dividends. We placed the case with a lender that uses the company’s net profit instead. On that basis the affordability worked comfortably — comfortably enough that they raised a little extra on top to put a new kitchen into the second property.
Tell us about your case
How it works from here
Have your last three months’ payslips and bank statements ready (or two to three years’ accounts if you are self-employed), plus ID, proof of deposit and details of any existing mortgages. That is enough for us to give you a real figure rather than an estimate.
Chat with a Specialist
Who will guide you through the qualification process. During our initial consultation, we aim to provide an idea of your maximum loan amount, monthly payments, and associated costs where possible, while answering any questions you may have.
Schedule a callbackFind your solution
Once we have found your solution one of our dedicated advisors will compare all suitable products and prepare your mortgage application. We’ll then handle the submission and work towards securing your formal mortgage offer.
Get my mortgage planTurn Your Dream into Reality
We’ll make the final steps as smooth as possible, coordinating with lenders to ensure a seamless process—ready for you to get the confirmation to your new venture!
Get startedWhy choose Barrett Mortgages?
Mortgage Solutions Tailored To You
At Barrett Mortgages we specialise in finding a mortgage solution that suits you, your circumstances and your lifestyle. We utilise our years of expertise and work with you to find you the right mortgage.
Flexible Finance Options
We understand that finances look different for everyone, so we are committed to helping you find a finance option that empowers you.
Full Support
Our experienced advisors will support you until the acquisition is complete, ensuring that you are fully informed throughout the process. Never hesitate to give us a call!
Come and see us
26 Parkstone Road, Poole, BH15 2PG
Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm. Customer parking at the rear, off Seldown Lane — use BH15 1UA.
One advisor from the first call to completion, and the same person when your deal is coming to an end. Most clients never need to come in, but you are very welcome to.
Mortgage questions we get asked locally
Do you only work with people in Poole and Bournemouth?
No. Our office is in Poole, and we arrange mortgages for clients all over the UK by phone, video and email. Being here simply means we know this market better than a broker looking at it from a distance.
Can you arrange a mortgage on an HMO?
Yes. HMOs need a specialist buy-to-let lender rather than a high-street one, and the licence, the number of lettable rooms and the valuation basis all matter. We check whether the property is lendable as an HMO before you commit to it. More on buy-to-let.
Can I get a mortgage on a holiday let?
Yes, but not on a standard buy-to-let mortgage — letting weekly on a standard buy-to-let breaches the conditions. Holiday-let lenders assess the income across low, mid and high season, usually from a letting agent’s projection.
I’m buying a flat near the harbour. Does the lease matter?
A great deal. Lenders set a minimum lease length and most want years left at the end of your mortgage term, not just today. Ground rent clauses, flats above commercial premises and building-safety paperwork on taller blocks all change which lenders will consider it. Send us the lease details early and we will tell you where it can go.
I’m serving at Hamworthy, Wool or Blandford. Can you help?
Yes. We look after a lot of serving personnel locally. Lenders differ in how they treat Forces Help to Buy and how much of your allowances they count as income, and it is worth setting the mortgage up with a future posting in mind.
How much do you charge?
There will be a fee for this advice. The exact amount depends on your circumstances, but we estimate it will be £395 and it is only payable on completion of the loan. The first conversation costs nothing.
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Click now to connect with our team. After discussing your circumstances, we’ll recommend the best path to completion.