George just came to us for life cover on the mortgage he was planning to take, but he was happy to have a meeting where we could conduct a full fact-find. We identified that he had commercial property, owned outright, the rent on which was taxable at 40% higher rate. Instead of obtaining a residential mortgage therefore we remortgaged his commercial premises and used that money to buy his new house. The interest on the commercial mortgage was used to offset the rent thus reducing his income tax bill by some £6000pa – “enough”, in his words, “for a new motorcycle every year!”
We’re not accountants but we do try to think about our clients’ finances in an all-round sense.
