Specialist commercial mortgage broker for trading companies across Herts

The county's large employers show how mixed its commercial stock is. MBDA develops missiles in Stevenage, where the Defence and Space division of Airbus also produces satellites. The old de Havilland site at Hatfield, where the Comet jet liner was developed, is now a business park and University of Hertfordshire campus hosting EE, Computacenter and Ocado. Welwyn Garden City holds Tesco's UK base, a Cereal Partners factory and Roche UK's headquarters, and GlaxoSmithKline has plants in Ware and Stevenage. Warner Bros. runs its main UK studio at Leavesden.

Behind those names is a deep layer of smaller trading companies: engineering subcontractors, laboratory and life-science suppliers, IT and professional firms, trade counters, caterers and independent retailers. When they buy, the purchase is usually an office suite or small office building, a light industrial or trade unit, a workshop with mezzanine storage, or a shop on a market-town high street. Our page on owner-occupier mortgages explains how lenders assess a company buying the building it occupies.

As a home county inside the London commuter belt, Hertfordshire is crossed by the A1, A1(M), A41, A414, M1, M11 and M25. Four national railway lines run through it: the West Coast Main Line via Watford Junction, the East Coast Main Line via Stevenage, the Midland Main Line carrying Thameslink, and the West Anglia Main Line out of Liverpool Street in the east. A significant minority of people in every district commute to Central London.

For a buyer that has two consequences. Premises near a station or motorway junction tend to suit a wide pool of future occupiers, which a lender's valuer takes into account. And much of the undeveloped land is Metropolitan green belt, so new commercial sites are scarce. If the property is a shop with a flat above, our guide to semi-commercial premises covers how lenders treat the mixed use.

Lenders active in owner-occupier lending typically advance 70 to 75% of the purchase price or valuation, whichever is lower, rising to 80% for strong cases. Indicative pricing is 6.0 to 7.5% a year over terms of 5 to 25 years, with arrangement fees usually 1 to 2%, all indicative, subject to status, accounts and valuation. The deposit, the tax and the professional fees come from the business.

Hertfordshire is in England, so Stamp Duty Land Tax applies. HMRC's non-residential rates are 0% on the first £150,000, 2% from £150,001 to £250,000 and 5% above £250,000 (source: gov.uk; rates as at October 2026; check the current rates before you buy).

Illustrative example. An IT services company buys a freehold office building near Hatfield for £800,000. A 75% loan is £600,000, so the deposit is £200,000. SDLT on £800,000 comes to £29,500, taking the cash needed to about £229,500 before legal and valuation costs. Our guide to commercial stamp duty works through each band.

For local government purposes Hertfordshire is a non-metropolitan county with ten districts, and planning decisions sit with the district or borough council where the building stands, such as the Borough of Watford or East Hertfordshire. A lender's solicitor checks the planning history and confirms that the current use is lawful before releasing funds, so having that record ready early saves time.

The lender takes a first legal charge over the property, registered at HM Land Registry, and often a debenture or directors' guarantees as well. Commercial lending to a limited company is unregulated and falls outside the FCA's regulated mortgage perimeter. Where a deal would be regulated, for example lending to a sole trader or individual, or a property where the borrower or a close family member will live in part of it, we refer it to an appropriately authorised firm. For the neighbouring counties, see our East of England business mortgages page.