Specialist business mortgage broker for trading firms across Aberdeenshire, Scotland

The primary sector still shapes what gets bought. Fishing and the processing industries that grew around it need chilled units, smokehouses and stores near the harbours; farms and agricultural suppliers need sheds, workshops and depots; forestry needs yards and machinery space. Oil and gas brought a different demand: storage yards, workshops and offices for service companies feeding the North Sea.

The Business Register and Employment Survey 2009 estimated total employment at 93,700, with most employees in the service sector, predominantly public administration, education and health, and almost 19% in the public sector. Behind those figures sit the private businesses that buy premises: dental and veterinary practices, garages, trade counters and local retailers. Our page on professional practice mortgages explains how lenders look at a surgery or clinic buying its own building.

Very closely. Aberdeenshire's GDP was estimated at £3,496M in 2011, 5.2% of the Scottish total, against £7,906M for Aberdeen City, and the region as a whole contributed 16.8% of Scotland's GDP that year. A significant share of working residents commute into the city, from 11.5% in Fraserburgh to 65% in Westhill. Workplace earnings in Aberdeenshire in 2011 averaged £572.60 a week, while residents averaged £741.90, because so many earn their wages in Aberdeen.

For a lender this matters in two ways. A business in a commuter town may draw its customers from the city's energy economy, so its accounts are read with oil activity in mind. A fish processor in a harbour town depends on landings and export markets. In both cases we present the trading history so the credit team understands where the income comes from and how steady it has been.

Lenders active in owner-occupier lending typically advance 70 to 75% of the price or valuation, up to 80% for strong cases, over 5 to 25 years. Indicative pricing is 6.0 to 7.5% a year for an owner-occupier, subject to status, accounts and valuation, with arrangement fees usually 1 to 2%.

Purchases here pay Land and Buildings Transaction Tax to Revenue Scotland: for non-residential property, 0% up to £150,000, 1% from £150,001 to £250,000 and 5% above £250,000 (rates as at October 2026; check the current rates before you buy).

Illustrative example. A seafood processor buys a freehold chilled unit for £450,000. A 75% loan is £337,500 and the deposit £112,500. LBTT is £11,000, so the company needs around £123,500 in cash before fees. Our costs of a business mortgage page lists the other charges.

One quirk is worth knowing. The historic county boundaries, not the modern council boundary, are still officially used for land registration. Your Scottish solicitor deals with that when the disposition and the lender's standard security are registered with Registers of Scotland, but it is why a title may refer to Kincardineshire or Banffshire. Missives bind you once they conclude, so we line the loan offer up first.

Aberdeenshire Council is the planning authority. Unusually, it is headquartered at Woodhill House in Aberdeen, the only Scottish council based outside its own area. 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 wider picture, see commercial mortgages across Scotland.