Independent · Fee-only · UK
Property Investment Advisor UK — Independent Advice Before You Commit
We are an independent property investment advisory practice. We do not source property, we do not sell developments and we take no commission from anyone in the transaction. Investors engage us to find out whether a decision should be made at all — and we are paid the same when the answer is no.
Book a pre-commitment callBefore offer, exchange or commitment
What your independent purchase review can cover
Send a property you have found, its asking price, rent evidence and proposed finance. We agree the questions, evidence, fee and written deliverables before starting. This is a second opinion on the purchase decision — not a listing service, building survey or legal clearance.
Evidence and missing information
Check price and rent assumptions against comparable evidence; record what is supplied, unverified or still needed from the seller, surveyor, solicitor or lender.
Downside and cash commitment
Separate gross rent from net income. Include voids, repairs, management, compliance, acquisition costs and finance sensitivity; identify the cash buffer needed if assumptions weaken.
A written decision brief
Set out the risks, assumptions, questions before commitment and conditions that could change the conclusion. Your agreed scope defines the analysis, exclusions and decision options.
Bring the questions that could change your offer
- Single-let: does net income still work after voids, repairs and a refinance?
- HMO: are room rents, licence conditions, planning position and compliance costs evidenced?
- Commercial or mixed use: what do lease terms, tenant covenant, breaks, capex and vacancy imply?
- Portfolio: does this acquisition increase lender, location or tenant concentration?
- Overseas: are FX, source-of-funds, ownership and UK/home-country tax questions coordinated before commitment?
Scope first. Fee agreed. No promised return.
Fees depend on the asset, documents, complexity and depth of review. Request a written scope, fixed deliverables, exclusions and fee before instructing. Missing information can limit conclusions; a review cannot remove market risk or guarantee a successful purchase.
Solicitors handle legal diligence, surveyors assess condition, and appropriately qualified or authorised professionals provide tax and regulated financial or mortgage advice. We identify questions for those professionals, not replace them.
What independent means here
- Fee-only. Fixed fees and retainers — never a percentage of the purchase price.
- No sourcing, no stock list, no developer relationships and no referral income.
- Written, named recommendations — including recommendations not to proceed.
- Scope and fees are agreed individually before instruction.
- Advice covers the asset, the financing, the structure, the downside and the exit together.
What does a property investment advisor do?
A property investment advisor assesses a specific decision before capital is committed: whether the asset stacks up, whether the financing survives a stress test, whether the ownership structure is right, and whether there is a credible exit. The output is judgement, not a property.
Most of the UK property advice market is attached to a transaction. Agents are paid when a property sells, sourcers are paid when a deal completes, developers pay for distribution. None of that is dishonest, but it means the advice arrives with a direction of travel already built in. Independent advisory exists to remove that direction of travel — which is why the fee has to be detached from whether you buy.
What an engagement covers
Capital allocation review
Whether property is the right home for this capital at all, against the alternatives available to you and the liabilities the money is eventually meant to meet.
Deal-level stress test
The yield rebuilt from realistic voids, management, compliance and repairs, then run at a stressed debt cost rather than the pay rate on offer today.
Structure and tax exposure
Personal name, limited company or something more involved — decided before purchase, because changing wrapper afterwards is taxed as a sale.
Portfolio concentration
Where an existing portfolio is exposed to one tenant type, one city, one lender or one refinance date, and what rebalancing would actually cost.
Exit and liquidity
Who the buyer is at the point you want out, how deep that pool is, and what has to be true for the exit to happen without a forced discount.
Written position
A named, signed recommendation you can act on, disagree with, or put in front of a lender, a co-investor or a family office.
Advisor, buying agent, sourcer or IFA — which do you need?
These four roles get used interchangeably and they are not interchangeable. The distinguishing question is simple: what happens to their income if you decide not to buy?
| Independent advisor | Buying agent | Sourcing company | IFA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid to say no | Yes | No | No | Partly |
| Holds property stock | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fee model | Fixed fee / retainer | % of purchase price | Sourcing fee from vendor or buyer | Fee or product commission |
| Reviews holding structure and tax exposure | Yes | Rarely | No | Sometimes |
| Models the downside and the exit | Yes | Rarely | No | At portfolio level only |
| Best used for | Deciding whether to commit | Winning a specific asset | Finding off-market stock | Whole-of-wealth planning |
When investors should not engage an advisor
- You have already decided and want the decision validated.
- The capital at risk is small enough that a fixed advisory fee is a material share of the return.
- You need someone to find and win a specific asset — that is a buying agent's job.
- The question is really a whole-of-wealth question, in which case start with a regulated financial planner.
Have a decision in front of you?
Bring the deal, the numbers and the deadline. We will tell you what we would need to see before we could support it.
Book a CallFrequently asked questions
Where investors go next
The advisory work and the decisions investors most often weigh at this point.
Bring Clarity to the Decision
We act as an independent real estate investment advisor in the UK, helping investors assess risk before committing capital.
If you are weighing allocation, risk, or exposure and want a clear, reasoned view, an initial advisory discussion can help clarify how to proceed.