Editorial
JV and development funding guides.
Plain-English, data-anchored guides written from the lender side. Every guide is written by Matt Lenzie (Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group alumnus, 25+ year career banker (bank of scotland, lloyds banking group). £300m+ of equity and debt raised for property clients.). No marketing fluff, what the funding partner and the credit committee actually want and why.
Guide · 10 min read
What is mezzanine finance? Second-charge development funding explained
Mezzanine sits behind the senior lender and in front of your equity. What it costs, how it is secured, and the maths against a JV instead.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 9 min read
What is GDV in property? Gross development value explained
Every number in a development appraisal hangs off GDV, and the lender’s valuer decides what it is. How the assessment works and why it drives the whole stack.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 11 min read
How property development joint ventures work, from heads of terms to exit
A development JV is an SPV, a shareholders’ agreement and a waterfall. The full life cycle from first conversation to profit distribution.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 10 min read
Property joint venture agreements: SPVs, shareholders’ agreements and security
The documents decide who controls the scheme and who gets paid first when it goes wrong. The clauses that matter and the ones developers regret.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 10 min read
JV profit splits: priority returns, waterfalls and who gets paid what
The headline split is the least important number in a JV. Priority returns and the waterfall decide what you actually bank, with worked examples.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 9 min read
How much deposit do you need for development finance?
From 25% of cost down to nothing at all, depending on how the stack is built. The real contribution at every leverage level, with the maths.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 10 min read
How to find investors for property development
Most developers pitch the right deal to the wrong money. Who actually deploys into development, and what your pack needs before they will look.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 11 min read
How to fund property development: every route from senior debt to JV
There are five ways to fund a scheme and most developers only ever use one. The full menu, what each costs, and how they combine.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 9 min read
Senior debt vs mezzanine debt: ranking, pricing and security
Same scheme, two very different loans. Where each sits, what each costs, and the intercreditor mechanics between them.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 9 min read
Mezzanine vs equity: the real cost of each on a development deal
Mezzanine has a known cost, equity takes a share of whatever the scheme makes. The crossover maths, worked on a real-shaped deal.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 10 min read
Development finance for first-time developers: the track record problem
No track record does not mean no funding. It means the stack has to borrow credibility from somewhere, and there are three places to get it.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
Guide · 9 min read
Personal guarantees in development finance and JV structures
Every layer of the stack wants a different guarantee. What is standard, what is negotiable, and what a JV partner’s presence does to your exposure.
Published 11 June 2026 · Read →
More guides coming
We publish new guides monthly across joint venture structuring, profit splits and waterfalls, SPV and shareholders' agreements, mezzanine and stretch senior finance, 100% development funding, finding development funding partners, first-scheme track-record problems, personal guarantees, and how credit and investment committees underwrite a stack. Every guide is written by Matt Lenzie from the desk, drawn from his 25 years on the lender side, not generic explainer content.
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