One facility. One set of covenants.
Portfolio facilities secure several properties under a single loan for limited companies and SPVs. Less administration and often better pricing through diversification, in exchange for cross collateralisation and less freedom to trade assets. Both sides of that bargain, stated plainly.
By Dominic Whitecross, Co-Founder, HyLend. Last reviewed July 2026.
What you gain
Administration. One facility, one renewal date, one covenant package and one relationship, rather than a spread of maturities to track and refinance individually.
Pricing, often. Income diversification across multiple units means a void in one is covered by the others, and lenders price that lower risk. On a portfolio of similar quality assets, a single facility frequently prices better than the same properties financed separately.
Capacity. A portfolio assessed as a whole can support borrowing that individual assets would not, because the interest cover test is applied across aggregate income rather than property by property. A weaker performing unit is carried by stronger ones.
What you give up
Cross collateralisation. Every property secures the whole debt. That is the mechanism delivering the diversification benefit, and it is also the constraint. A problem with one asset is no longer contained to that asset.
Freedom to sell. Disposing of an individual property requires the lender's consent and a release calculation, and that calculation is rarely proportionate to the property's share of the portfolio. Lenders typically require more than the asset's pro rata debt to release it, protecting the residual security. If you expect to trade assets in and out, this constraint usually matters more than the pricing benefit.
Concentration on one relationship. A single lender's change of appetite affects everything at once, at a single renewal date, rather than one facility at a time.
Mixed commercial and residential portfolios
Fundable, though fewer lenders will take both under one facility and the blend affects which ones. The residential and commercial elements are typically valued and stressed separately even within a single facility, so the proportion between them determines your lender pool in the same way it does on an individual semi commercial asset.
Worth establishing the split by value before an application goes anywhere.
What we need to price it
A schedule of the properties with values, a rent roll with lease expiries and break dates, the borrowing entity and its structure, current debt and maturities, and what you intend to do with the portfolio over the next few years. That last point is the one most often left out and the one that most affects whether a portfolio facility is the right instrument at all.
Portfolios are not valued as the sum of their parts
A multi asset facility is valued as a portfolio, and valuers commonly apply an aggregate adjustment where a block disposal is the realistic recovery route: selling twenty units at once does not achieve twenty individual sale prices. That adjustment sits on top of any restricted marketing period assumption, so the figure your leverage is applied to can be some way below the total of individual valuations you hold.
Where assets are geographically concentrated or of a single type, expect the adjustment to be larger. A clean, current schedule of tenancies, rents, arrears and conditions given to the valuer at instruction is the most effective thing you can do to protect the figure. 90 and 180 day valuations explained →
Portfolio facilities take longer, and should
Eight to sixteen weeks. Every asset needs valuing, and while a portfolio valuation is more efficient than twenty separate instructions, it is still constrained by inspection access across multiple properties and multiple tenants. Legal work scales with the number of titles, not with the size of the facility.
The single most useful thing you can supply on day one is a clean, current schedule of tenancies, rents, arrears and conditions. The honest bridging timeline →
Portfolio Finance FAQs
What is a property portfolio facility?
A single loan secured against several properties under one set of covenants, rather than financing each asset separately. It reduces administration to one facility and one renewal date, and often prices better because income diversification across units means a void in one is covered by the others. It also allows a portfolio to support borrowing that individual assets might not, because interest cover is tested across aggregate income.
What is cross collateralisation and why does it matter?
Every property in the facility secures the whole debt. That is the mechanism that delivers the diversification and pricing benefit, and it is also the main constraint: a problem with one asset is no longer contained to that asset. Selling an individual property requires lender consent and a release payment that is typically more than that property's pro rata share of the debt, because the lender is protecting the residual security.
Can a portfolio mix commercial and residential property?
Yes, though fewer lenders will take both under one facility and the blend determines which ones can. The residential and commercial elements are usually valued and stressed separately even within a single facility, so the proportion between them by value decides your lender pool. Establish that split before an application is submitted.
How long does a portfolio refinance take?
Eight to sixteen weeks. Every asset in the portfolio has to be valued, and while a single portfolio instruction is more efficient than separate ones, inspection access across multiple properties and tenants is still the constraint. Legal work scales with the number of titles rather than the size of the facility. A clean, current schedule of tenancies, rents, arrears and conditions supplied at the outset is the most effective way to compress it.