Semi-Commercial Mortgages Coventry
Single-facility commercial mortgages for the shop-with-flat-above archetype and other residential-commercial mixed assets where residential floorspace is 40%+. Up to 75% LTV. Blended ICR around 145%. Mid-2026 rates 6.5 to 8.5% pa. We arrange the unregulated cases (let residential element); cases where the borrower or family member occupies the flat fall under the FCA's regulated mortgage perimeter and we refer those out to a regulated broker.
LTV
70 to 75%
Cover test
Blended ICR 140 to 150%
Rate range
6.5 to 8.5% pa
Facility
£150K to £2M
Underwriting a Coventry semi-commercial commercial mortgage
Semi-commercial is the term for commercial mortgages on mixed-use property where the residential element is at least 40% of total floorspace, typically the classic shop-with-flat-above archetype that defines Coventry's parade network, from Far Gosford Street through to Earlsdon Avenue. The product gives lenders comfort from the residential security (easier to re-let an empty flat than an empty retail unit), so semi-commercial routinely prices 50 to 100bps inside pure commercial investment on the same building.
There is one structural complication every borrower must understand. Commercial mortgages are unregulated by definition and fall outside the FCA's regulated mortgage perimeter, which is what we arrange. If the borrower or an immediate family member personally occupies the residential element, the deal moves inside the regulated mortgage perimeter and stops being a commercial mortgage. We do not hold FCA authorisation because the products we arrange are unregulated, so where a deal falls into regulated territory we refer it to a regulated mortgage broker partner. We flag this at outset rather than discover it three weeks into legals. The classic case: the independent retailer who buys the freehold of their Earlsdon Avenue shop and lives in the flat above sits inside the regulated perimeter; the same building bought as an investment with the flat let on an AST sits inside our unregulated commercial scope.
Active Coventry semi-commercial spines: Far Gosford Street (CV1 5) the densest student-led independent retail and F&B parade, on the back of the Coventry University estate. Earlsdon Avenue (CV5) the dominant suburban professional-class parade, classic Victorian and Edwardian shop-plus-flat stock. Spon Street (CV1) the heritage parade with listed and conservation-area shop-plus-flat stock. Foleshill Road (CV6) the inner-suburban parade running through Foleshill with dense shop-plus-flat-above stock. Most semi-commercial deals are £200K to £900K facility size. Worked example: an Earlsdon Avenue shop with two flats above, £585K valuation, retail let on a 10-year FRI to a national coffee covenant, both flats let on ASTs (unregulated, in our scope). InterBay Commercial placed at 75% LTV, 6.95% pa on a 5-year fix, 25-year term, blended ICR 148%. Worked example two: a Far Gosford Street shop-plus-three-flats with all flats let on ASTs to student tenants, £685K, placed via Together at 70% LTV, 8.25% pa, blended ICR 145%.
See our dedicated semi-commercial service page for the product mechanics in detail. For purely residential blocks above commercial, see HMO blocks; for predominantly-commercial buildings with smaller residential elements, see mixed-use.
Semi-commercial assets we fund
Shop with one or two flats above
Classic Coventry parade archetype. Far Gosford Street CV1 5, Earlsdon Avenue CV5, Spon Street CV1, Foleshill Road CV6.
Restaurant or pub with operator flat (let)
Operator flat above licensed-trade premises let on AST. Sits as unregulated commercial. Owner-occupied flat cases fall outside our scope, referred to a regulated broker.
Office with residential conversion above
Office at ground or first floor with residential floors above (post-Class E to mixed change-of-use, common across the Foleshill Road and central CBD conversion pipeline).
Vacant semi-commercial acquisition
Bridge-to-let funded acquisition with refurbishment and re-letting both elements before term-out.
Multi-flat above commercial
Larger semi-commercial blocks with 3 to 5 flats above ground-floor retail. Specialist underwriting on blended ICR.
Heritage and conservation conversions
Listed-building semi-commercial; heritage-comfortable lenders only. Spon Street and Bayley Lane Cathedral Quarter stock.
Finance structures for Coventry semi-commercial
Single-facility semi-commercial commercial mortgage is the primary route on unregulated cases (residential element let on AST or to a limited-company tenant). Bridge-to-let funds vacant acquisition with agreed exit onto term semi-commercial. Cases where the borrower or family member will occupy the residential element fall outside the unregulated commercial scope, we refer those to a regulated mortgage broker partner.
Owner-occupier commercial mortgage
Where the borrower's business trades from the property, EBITDA cover at 1.3 to 1.5x.
Commercial investment mortgage
Let assets, ICR-led underwriting at 140 to 160% stressed cover.
Commercial bridge-to-let
Vacant or value-add acquisition with agreed term-out onto investment mortgage.
Commercial remortgage
End-of-fix or capital raise on existing assets.
The Coventry semi-commercial estate
A deep, active product across Coventry. The classic parade spines, Far Gosford Street CV1 5, Earlsdon Avenue CV5, Spon Street CV1 and Foleshill Road CV6, all run on shop-plus-flat-above stock dating from the 1880s through the 1930s. Heritage stock on Spon Street and around Bayley Lane in the Cathedral Quarter adds further depth with listed-building considerations. Recent change-of-use activity along Foleshill Road and the broader Foleshill industrial belt, plus emerging post-Class E mixed-use conversion across the central CBD, has been creating new semi-commercial profiles as upper floors are retained or converted to flats. The semi-commercial market trades steadily across Coventry, these assets rarely sit vacant for long because the residential element is intrinsically lettable given the city's student demand (around 65,000 combined Coventry University and University of Warwick students) anchoring tenant demand particularly across Far Gosford Street and the wider CV1 5 belt.
Lender appetite for Coventry semi-commercial
Strong on the unregulated cases we arrange. <strong>InterBay Commercial</strong> (OSB Group) is the most active named lender on the Coventry shop-plus-flat archetype, typical 7.5 to 8.25% pa at 70 to 75% LTV. Together covers more challenged cases (vacant flat at acquisition, weaker commercial covenant) at 8.25 to 9.0% pa. <strong>Shawbrook</strong>, Aldermore, YBS Commercial, HTB, Allica Bank and Cambridge & Counties (Cambridge-based, strong on Warwickshire and Coventry within its zone) all have meaningful semi-commercial appetite on let residential cases. Each has a distinct LTV / minimum-loan / covenant profile, we know which fits what. Cases that fall inside the regulated mortgage perimeter (owner-occupied residential element) are out of scope for us and we refer those to a regulated broker.
Semi-Commercial FAQs
Developing a semi-commercial scheme in Coventry?
Free-of-charge scheme assessment. Indicative terms within 48 hours.