Specialist business mortgage broker for companies across Argyll & Bute

The council area mixes a Clyde commuter town, small market and harbour towns, and island communities linked by ferry. Owner-occupiers reflect that: hotels, inns and guest accommodation, shops and cafés, boatyards and marine services, builders' yards, garages, food producers and professional practices. Oban alone rises from 8,000 residents (2022) to over 24,000 in the tourist season, which shows how much local trade depends on visitors.

Hotels and other trading businesses are priced on the strength of the business, typically 7.0 to 9.0% a year, indicative, subject to status, accounts and valuation. An ordinary owner-occupied shop, workshop or office usually sits at 6.0 to 7.5% a year on the same basis. Our page on owner-occupier mortgages explains the general approach, and semi-commercial premises covers buildings with flats above.

The West Highland Line links Oban to Glasgow. It enters the area just west of Dumbarton and runs via Helensburgh Upper, the Gare Loch, Loch Long, Arrochar and Tarbet and Loch Lomond, then the Oban branch re-enters west of Tyndrum and runs through Dalmally and Taynuilt. As of 2019 the summer service had six trains a day to Oban, four on Sundays. Helensburgh has a far more frequent service into Glasgow on the North Clyde Line. Many island and peninsula communities depend on ferries instead.

Lenders think about access because it affects who else could use a building. A unit in Helensburgh with a frequent train to Glasgow has a wide market of possible occupiers; a hotel on an island relies on its own trade. Remote premises are still financed, but expect a careful valuer and a lender who reads two or three years of accounts to see how the business copes across the seasons.

Lenders active in owner-occupier lending typically lend 70 to 75% of the price or valuation over 5 to 25 years, with arrangement fees usually 1 to 2%. The tax is Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, paid to Revenue Scotland. For non-residential property the rates are 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 company buys a freehold coastal hotel for £600,000. A 75% loan is £450,000 and the deposit £150,000. LBTT is £18,500, so the buyer needs about £168,500 before fees. Some lenders cap hotel lending below 75%, in which case the deposit grows. Our LBTT and stamp duty guide has the bands for all four nations.

Argyll and Bute Council, based in Lochgilphead, is the planning authority. Its records show the lawful use of a building, which matters for hotels and guest houses where the balance between residential and commercial use may have shifted over the years. Under Scots law the purchase binds once missives conclude, and the lender takes a standard security registered with Registers of Scotland.

Many hospitality properties include owner's accommodation, which needs care. 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. See our Scotland commercial mortgages page for the national picture.