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Higher mortgage rates have squeezed investors. The consequence is that the only way investors can survive and keep up with the overheads on their properties is to raise rents. It’s a sad cycle that, unfortunately, negatively impacts everyone involved. The tenant most of all. That’s why many landlords and budding investors are asking how they can fund a property deal in the UK, without paying astronomical rates.
However, just because interest rates are creeping up, it does not mean ‘buy-to-let is dead’ or any of the other bold claims we see online. Instead, it means that creative property finance is prevalent, and investors are looking at alternate ways of funding their property deals. In this article, we’ll explore the trends we’re seeing amongst our audience.
The investors still scaling right now aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest savings account. One Blue Bricks contributor arrived in the UK in 2000 with £150 in his pocket and has since built an £8.5 million portfolio, funded largely through other people's money rather than his own capital. His constraint was never a lack of deals, it was access to funding, and once that was solved, the deals followed.
That's the theme running through most of the strategies below: capital and deal-finding are two separate skills, and you only need to be good at one of them to get started.
However, we will say that terms like ‘other people’s money’ need to be treated with far more reverence than they are when they’re bandied around the rooms of £997 courses. Borrowing money is risky for you and the other person. You MUST read the FCA’s guidelines and ensure the other person understands what they are getting into, including the consequences, and that they are financially healthy enough to lose what they invest if a deal goes wrong. FCA guidance on financial promotions
Important warning out of the way, let’s look at the other creative structures we are seeing amongst investors wondering how to fund a property deal in today’s difficult economy.
In most cases, a joint venture pairs someone who brings the deal, the site, the planning knowledge, the delivery, with someone who brings the cash.
Another popular joint venture property investing strategy we are seeing is when a developer teams up with a landowner (say a farmer, for example). The developer usually agrees to carry out all development work, and split the profit with the landowner. This saves paying to buy the land, and it’s typically much easier to get development finance this way.
In the UK, this is usually structured through a special purpose vehicle set up just for that project, with the capital partner’s money returned first, often with a priority return in the 8% to 12% per annum range, before profits are split by agreement. Source: JV Equity, June 2026
The appeal for the capital-light side is obvious: you can work on deals you couldn't otherwise afford. The appeal for the capital-rich side is that they get a share of a deal without doing the legwork of finding and running it. Structured properly, through an LLP, SPV or a clear contractual JV, both sides know exactly what they're owed and when.
A purchase lease option (PLO) is two agreements in one: a lease that lets you manage and rent out a property for a monthly payment, and an option that lets you buy it later at a price agreed today, if you choose to. You're not obliged to buy, so if the market moves against you, you can let the option lapse and lose only the option fee, rather than being locked into an overpriced purchase.
Michelle Cairns is a good example of what this looks like in practice. She started with no savings, no property knowledge and no contacts, and her first investment was a £58,000 single let. From there she moved into rent-to-rent and PLOs. One lease option gave her control of a property worth around £500,000, generating more than £1,500 a month, without buying it outright. She's since secured a PLO across 22 flats worth more than £2 million, and built an owned and controlled portfolio worth over £4 million.
You can read Michelle’s story, and discover her advice on LO’s, here: https://www.bluebricksmagazine.com/articles/creative-deals-and-a-clear-vision-building-a-4-million-property-portfolio-from-scratch
Bridging loans are short-term, secured against property, and designed to cover a gap, often while you wait to sell somewhere else or arrange longer-term finance. In 2026, UK bridging loan rates start from around 0.55% per month for prime residential cases and can reach 1.5%+ per month for more complex or higher-LTV cases. Most standard deals are currently quoted around 0.65% to 0.95% per month, although the actual rate depends on the borrower, property, LTV and exit strategy. Source: Doulton Bridging Finance, August 2026
The investors who use bridging well have a confirmed exit before they draw the loan, a sale exchanged, a refinance agreed, a development finance facility lined up. The ones who get burned are the ones who take a bridge and hope an exit turns up before the clock runs out.
Vendor finance is exactly what it sounds like: the seller effectively lends you some or all of the purchase price, rather than you sourcing it from a bank. Private money works the same way but with an individual investor rather than the seller. Most first private loans come from people the investor already knows, not strangers found online, which is a large part of why relationships and reputation do so much of the heavy lifting in this industry.
None of this is free money, and it's worth being honest about that. A PLO is worthless to exercise if the property's value falls below the price you locked in. A JV is only as good as the partner on the other side of it. A bridging loan without a real exit is how people lose properties, not build portfolios. These strategies remove the deposit as the barrier, they don't remove the need to understand the deal.
Not by copying a strategy off a checklist. By building the relationships that make any of this possible in the first place, JV partners, private lenders, brokers who specialise in the more creative end of finance. That's precisely the gap people like Michael Primrose of The Property Finance Collective, one of our Brand Builder clients, spend their time in: structuring vendor finance, JVs, SSAS pension deals and bridging for investors who've outgrown a standard mortgage conversation.
If you want the real numbers behind these strategies, not just the theory, that's exactly what Blue Bricks exists for. Read the full stories behind the deals mentioned above, and join our community for the strategies, contacts and real numbers that made them possible, all for free.
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There is no single route. Depending on the deal and your circumstances, options can include mortgages, bridging finance, joint ventures, purchase lease options, vendor finance and private funding. The right structure depends on the property, strategy, risk and your exit plan.
It is possible to structure some property deals using capital from joint venture partners, private lenders, vendors or other funding sources. However, using other people’s money does not remove the risk, and any arrangement needs to be structured properly with appropriate legal and financial advice.
Creative property finance is a broad term for funding or controlling property outside a straightforward purchase using your own deposit and a conventional mortgage. Examples can include joint ventures, purchase lease options, vendor finance and private funding.
Bridging finance is generally short-term finance designed to cover a gap, often while a property is being refurbished, sold or refinanced. A mortgage is typically longer-term borrowing. Bridging can be useful, but it is usually more expensive and needs a clear exit strategy.
