Buying a Grade 1 or Grade 2 listed building? How to get a mortgage and a low rate
Page edited and updated 06/08/2024.
Securing a mortgage on one of the reported 500,000 Grade 1 and Grade 2 listed buildings in the UK does not have to be a complicated process.
At least 18 lenders offer Grade 1 listed building mortgages, and 35 provide Grade 2 listed building mortgages.* This does not include the private banks and specialist lenders keen to fund the purchases and remortgages of those unique properties.
If you are trying to buy a historic home, country house, converted mill, or even a castle, Trinity Financial can help you secure the most competitively priced rates. Our brokers will need to understand your financial situation and have the estate agents link to the property.
Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: “Many of the bigger banks and building societies are happy to provide listed building mortgages and tend to have the cheapest fixed and tracker rates. Smaller building societies and bespoke lenders tend to charge more, but they often have more of a can-do attitude.
“The lenders are very reliant on their property valuers and will only provide funding if they consider the property suitable for the mortgage. If the property has lots of land, outbuildings, or any form of commercial premises, you may need a mortgage from one of the smaller providers or private banks."
Some of the lenders providing listed building mortgages* include:
| Mortgage lender | Grade 1 listed properties | Grade 2 listed properties |
| Accord Mortgages (part of Yorkshire Building Society) | Yes | Yes |
| Nationwide for Intermediaries | Yes | Yes |
| HSBC for Intermediaries | Yes | Yes |
| Kensington Mortgages | No | Yes |
| Platform for Intermediaries | Yes | Yes |
| Family Building Society | No | Yes |
| Virgin Money for Intermediaries | Potentially | Potentially |
Will other mortgage lenders issue Grade 1 or Grade 2 listed building mortgages?
A selection of lenders will offer Grade 1 or Grade 2 list property mortgages even though this is not stated on their website. For example, Halifax says it will assess each application will be evaluated on its own merits. In contrast, Saffron for Intermediaries will assess Grade 1 listed properties subject to the valuer's comments. Other lenders offer Grade I, II* and II or A, B and C in Scotland subject to full valuation and surveyor’s comments.
Do lenders offer £1 million+ Grade 1 or Grade 2 listed buildings?
Mortgage lenders are keen to offer £1 million+ mortgages to borrowers buying or remortgaging all types of properties. Some even provide their most competitively priced rates to those seeking larger mortgages, now around 4%.
Listed building mortgage lending is often subject to the valuer's comments
Mortgage lenders are keen to issue listed building loans, but they are heavily reliant on the comments of their property valuers. If a valuer representing the bank or building society you apply to says the property is reasonable security, then the mortgage is much more likely to be approved. If they think the property has issues, is in a poor location, requires too much spending, or needs too much work, then the mortgage may be declined.
Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a Grade 1 or Grade 2 listed building mortgage. You can also book a consultation, or complete our mortgage questionnaire.
The information contained within was correct at the time of publication but is subject to change.
Your mortgage is secured on your property. Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage
*Data provided by KnowledgeBank
According to Historic England Grade I buildings are of exceptional interest and only 2.5% of listed buildings are Grade I.
Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest and 5.8% of listed buildings are Grade II*.
Grade II buildings are of special interest; 91.7% of all listed buildings are in this class and it is the most likely grade of listing for a homeowner.
You can find out if a property is listed using the search engine on this link.
Some mortgage lenders will cap the maximum loan-to-value so borrowers will need a 20% or 25% deposit to secure a listed building mortgage. There are banks and building societies happy to provide lower deposit mortgages to those with a deposit of at least 10% if the have a good income and they can demonstrate their mortgage affordability.
If you have credit cards, loans, or kids in private school, the banks and building societies will want to know how much they cost you each month. If you are in a position to repay the debts before the mortgage completes, the lenders will look to ignore the costs, although it might be a condition of the mortgage offer the debts are repaid.
There are at least 50 lenders offering interest-only mortgages and many of these will be available for listed properties. This is providing borrowers have equity in their property and they earn enough money.
Some private banks allow part interest-only and part-capital repayment mortgages so most of the debt is on interest-only and this reduces the monthly repayments.
Other lenders allow "bullet repayments" so the lenders specify in the mortgage offer how much clients need to overpay each year. This is often linked to their annual bonuses and designed to lower the outstanding mortgage balance over the short term.
Our brokers have access to a host of banks and building societies accepting retained profits and investment income as part of their mortgage affordability calculations. They will look at the applicant's overall financial situation to work out how much they can borrow.
Trinity Financial consistently arranges mortgages for clients with complex or less standard financial situations, and our team of expert advisers do everything possible to secure the cheapest rates and the fastest mortgage offers.
More of the lenders have specialist lending teams to agree on larger mortgage loans for clients buying unusual and unique properties. We have access to these separate and specialist processing teams.
We regularly work with clients over the phone to discuss applications and confirm the documentation we will require. Click on the link to view some of the mortgages we have arranged over the last ten years.
Get started today
Speak to one of our mortgage experts. Book an appointment to come and see us or request one of our experts to call you.
