A Serco let is a corporate lease. Serco is the tenant. The people living in the house have no tenancy with the landlord at all.
That is a different product from a limited company buy to let, where the borrower is a company and the tenant is usually a household on a standard assured tenancy. Most high-street buy to let mortgages only allow standard residential tenancies to individuals. Signing a Serco lease on one of those mortgages is a breach. The rent is paid by Serco, not guaranteed by the Home Office. Specialist buy to let lenders can look at the contracted rent where the lease runs long enough to cover the fixed rate period.
On this page
Serco lease or limited company buy to let?
The two phrases get mixed up. One describes who borrows. The other describes who the tenant is. You can have both at once, and that is the case we can help with: a company landlord with Serco as the tenant.
| Point | Limited company BTL | Serco / provider lease |
|---|---|---|
| Who borrows | Usually an SPV or property company | Can be an individual or a company. We only introduce the company and portfolio side |
| Who the tenant is | Usually an individual household on a standard assured tenancy | Serco, Mears, a housing association or a council |
| Who lives there | The tenant household | Occupiers housed by the provider. They have no tenancy with the landlord |
| What most high-street BTL allows | This structure, on standard tenancy terms | Usually nothing. The mortgage terms forbid it |
| What this post covers | Only to draw the line. See what an SPV is | The lease, the rental cover test and the finance route |
Can you get a buy to let mortgage with a Serco lease?
Yes, with a specialist lender, for the right borrower and the right lease. Not on a standard high-street buy to let product that only permits residential tenancies to individuals.
If the property already has a mortgage, read the mortgage terms before anyone signs anything with Serco. An unapproved company let is a breach, and the lender can call the loan in. The order is remortgage onto a product that accepts the lease, then complete the lease. Not the other way round. Where Serco’s handover date will not wait, a short unregulated bridging loan can sit in the middle.
The rent is not “government-backed”
Serco provides asylum accommodation under a Home Office contract. That contract is Serco’s business. Your lease is with Serco. If an agent or a listing tells you the Home Office guarantees the rent, that is wrong. Read the deed for who pays, when they can deduct and how the lease ends.
What a Serco lease actually is
Serco runs asylum accommodation under the Home Office’s Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contracts (AASC). When the contracts were awarded in 2019, Serco took the North West region and the Midlands and East of England region. Bolton is in Serco’s territory.
Serco’s landlords page (checked October 2026) says it leases from landlords, investors and housing providers, provides property management and maintenance, and is looking for HMOs, family houses, flats, larger sites and portfolios. Its Property Partnerships Team is on 0330 236 9898.
The page does not publish lease length, rent levels or who pays utilities and council tax. Those sit in the lease Serco offers you. The deed sets the term, the breaks, the repairing split and who pays for the roof. Read that, not the marketing.
The Home Office break clause
The AASC contracts started in 2019 and run to 2029. According to the Home Affairs Committee, each contract has a break clause that lets the Home Office change or end it without penalty from March 2026. A five or seven year lease signed in 2026 can outlast the contract Serco is delivering.
Your lease is with Serco, not the Home Office. What happens to your rent if the contract changes depends on the break and termination wording in your deed. Expect the valuer, the solicitor and the lender to ask about it. It is not a reason to avoid the lease. It is a reason to read it properly.
Why high-street BTL declines it
Standard buy to let is built for a household tenant on a residential tenancy, with vacant possession the lender understands. A Serco lease fails that model on three counts.
- The tenant is a company, not a household.
- The term is years, not a rolling tenancy. Some lenders cap company lets at a set number of years. Some want the occupier named on the tenancy, which a provider lease will not give you.
- The use can look like social or supported accommodation even where the planning use is still C3. That is enough for a credit-scored high-street product to stop.
Specialist buy to let is a different market. Some of those lenders list corporate lets, housing associations, charities and councils as acceptable tenants and drop the usual tenancy length limits. That is where provider leases fit. It is still buy to let, not a commercial mortgage on a shop, but it is not the product your existing high-street lender is offering.
How specialist lenders underwrite the rent
This is the test that decides the loan size. Some specialist lenders will use the higher of the lease rent or the open-market rent, as long as the corporate lease runs for at least the initial fixed rate period. Others will only use the open-market rent on a standard tenancy. The same house can pass on one test and fail on the other.
Take a Bolton 3-bed terrace worth £180,000, with an open-market rent of about £950 a month. Serco offers a 5-year lease at £1,250 a month. The figures below are illustrative, using 125 per cent rental cover at a 5.5 per cent stress rate. They are not an offer.
| Test | If the lender uses Serco rent | If the lender uses open-market rent |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly rent | £1,250 | £950 |
| Annual rent | £15,000 | £11,400 |
| Maximum loan at 125% cover and 5.5% | About £218,000 | About £165,000 |
| 70% of £180,000 | £126,000 | £126,000 |
| What actually limits the loan | Loan to value, and whether the current mortgage allows the lease at all | The same loan to value cap, with less room to raise more later |
On this example the rent is not the problem. The existing mortgage terms are. Move the mortgage first.
Four Serco journeys
1. Move a let Bolton house onto a Serco lease
The most common enquiry. An SPV already owns the house. It is let to a household, and the current lender only allows standard residential tenancies. Serco wants it as family stock on a 5-year lease.
Two problems. First, Serco usually wants the property empty at handover. Since the Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026, Section 21 has gone and existing tenancies became periodic assured tenancies. There is no possession ground for re-letting to a company, so in practice this only works if the tenant leaves of their own accord. Second, the mortgage. Do not sign the lease. Remortgage onto a specialist lender that accepts corporate lets, complete the new mortgage, then complete the lease. If Serco’s handover date falls inside the remortgage timetable, use a short unregulated bridging loan rather than hope the existing lender will give consent it has already ruled out in the offer.
2. Buy a 5-bed already on a Serco lease
Purchase price around £250,000. Licensed HMO. 7-year Serco lease from completion. Lease rent £2,200 a month. Local room-by-room HMO rent if it had to be re-let tomorrow, closer to £1,600. The headline yield looks like 10 per cent. Rental cover is comfortable on either figure. What limits the loan is loan to value, often 65 to 70 per cent on this kind of property, and the valuer. Some valuers treat the lease as investment income. Others value it as if empty, because a 7-year term with weak breaks is not the same as a fully let HMO on the open market.
Also in the file: the HMO licence in the buyer’s name, any additional or selective licensing, insurance that actually allows asylum accommodation, and the Home Office break clause. Where a term loan will not complete on day one, the usual route is an unregulated bridging loan to buy, then a refinance once the lease and licence sit with the buyer.
3. Empty house, works, then Serco
Serco wants empty, compliant stock. A tired 3-bed in Wigan at £140,000 needing a kitchen, bathroom, fire doors and an EPC to C is a refurbishment bridging loan, not a mortgage. Works £18,000. Serco indication after inspection, say £1,150 a month. Open-market rent after works £850. Do not count rent from month one. The lease does not start until handover. Refinance onto a term loan once the works are signed off and the lease exists.
4. The fixed rate is ending and the lender will not keep the lease
Two houses already on Serco 5-year leases, twelve months left, no landlord break. The current lender has tightened its policy. The question is the remaining lease term, not whether Serco is a good tenant. Options to work through, not a recommendation: remortgage both onto a lender that still accepts corporate lets and will lend on twelve months certain plus the prospect of renewal, or a short unregulated bridging loan if a term loan will not complete before the redemption date. Do not try to end a lease early without reading the deed.
| Journey | Where cases fail | Finance route |
|---|---|---|
| Move a let house onto Serco | Tenant stays, or the existing mortgage forbids the lease | Remortgage then lease, or short bridge |
| Buy an HMO already on lease | Valuer, licence, break clause | Specialist term loan at 65 to 70%, or bridge then refinance |
| Empty house to Serco standard | Works overrun, lease never starts | Refurbishment bridge, then term loan |
| Fixed rate ending | Current lender will not keep the case | Specialist remortgage or short bridge |
Mears, housing associations and councils
The same lending logic applies. The tenant is still a company. The cover test is still lease rent against open-market rent. The details are not the same as Serco.
Mears’ landlords page (checked October 2026) offers contract terms of three or five years and, on most of its contracts, pays rent each month including void periods. Tenant damage is covered, and Mears maintains white goods and furniture supplied new at the start of the lease. The landlord stays responsible for the structure of the property. A valuer will price that repairing liability.
Mears’ asylum accommodation regions are the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, Scotland and Northern Ireland. For a Bolton landlord, the asylum accommodation provider is Serco. Mears still matters for its other housing contracts and for property outside this region. Housing association and council leases vary even more. Some are close to a standard tenancy with the occupier named. Some are full company lets. Send the deed, not the brochure.
What we can and cannot introduce
Bolton Business Finance is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. We introduce non-regulated property finance for limited companies, SPVs and portfolio landlords. If the borrower is an individual and the loan would be a regulated mortgage contract, we stop and you need an FCA-authorised mortgage broker.
On the cases we can look at, the job is to read the lease, put the rental cover test in front of a lender that accepts this kind of tenancy, and pick the product that fits the timetable: a specialist term loan, unregulated bridging, or refurbishment bridging into a term loan. More on the lenders and products we use is on our buy to let mortgage broker page.
Serco buy to let FAQs
How much does Serco pay landlords per month?
Serco does not publish rent levels. Rent is agreed per property. In the worked example above, a Bolton 3-bed with an open-market rent of £950 a month gets a Serco figure of £1,250. That is illustrative, not a quote. Ask Serco’s Property Partnerships Team for the property in front of you.
Will Serco rent my property?
Serco’s AASC regions are the North West, the Midlands and the East of England, and Bolton is in the North West. Whether it takes a particular property depends on the area and the property. It usually wants the house empty and compliant at handover. Serco’s Property Partnerships Team is on 0330 236 9898.
Are there Serco properties for sale?
Yes. They are usually HMOs already on a 5 or 7 year lease. The mortgage problem on those purchases is the valuer, the licence and the Home Office break clause, not finding the property.
Is the rent government-backed?
No. The tenant is Serco. The Home Office contract sits behind Serco’s business. What protects you is the lease in front of you.
What happens if the Home Office uses the break clause?
The AASC contracts can be changed or ended by the Home Office from March 2026. Your lease is with Serco, so whether your rent continues depends on the break and termination wording in that lease. Read it with a solicitor before you sign. The valuer and lender will ask the same question.
Can I sign the Serco lease and remortgage afterwards?
Not if your current mortgage only allows standard residential tenancies. Completing the lease first is a breach. Remortgage, then sign. Use a short unregulated bridging loan if the dates will not line up.
Is this the same as a limited company buy to let mortgage?
No. Limited company buy to let describes the borrower. A Serco lease describes the tenant. You can have both at once, an SPV landlord with Serco as the tenant, and that is the structure we can introduce. A limited company letting to ordinary households is a different product.
Do you arrange regulated buy to let for individual landlords?
No. We are not FCA authorised. Individual consumer buy to let is not something we can arrange. If that is your case, you need an authorised mortgage broker.
Send the lease, not the brochure
Got a Serco or provider lease in front of you?
Tell us the property, the borrower (company or individual), the current mortgage if there is one, and send the draft lease. We will tell you whether it is a case we can introduce and which product fits the timetable.
Bolton Business Finance Ltd is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We arrange non-regulated, business purpose commercial finance only. This post is general information about provider leases and specialist buy to let. It is not legal or financial advice and it is not an offer of mortgage terms. Any property used as security is at risk if the loan is not repaid. Serco and Mears details are taken from their published landlord pages as at October 2026 and can change. Always read the deed.