Richard Rapley - Mortgage and Protection Advice
Luton
Mortgage advice covering self-employed, buy-to-let, first-time buyers and 1 more. Richard Rapley charges a broker fee.
Main contact
About Richard Rapley
Richard Rapley - Mortgage and Protection Advice is a UK mortgage broker based in Luton. Its website describes mortgage advice for residential mortgages, buy-to-let, first-time buyers, self-employed borrowers. Its website publishes FCA regulatory details.
From this firm's public listing.
What this broker covers
From the areas recorded here.
Richard Rapley records 4 areas of advice from its base in Luton: self-employed, buy-to-let, first-time buyers and residential.
Self-employed and buy-to-let together suit business owners buying property, where income evidence and rental stress testing both have to line up.
Self-Employed
Self-employed cases turn on how a lender reads your income. Some average two or three years of accounts, some use your latest year, and sole traders, limited-company directors and day-rate contractors are all assessed differently. A firm that does this regularly knows which lenders sit where.
Read the self-employed guideBuy-to-Let
Buy-to-let borrowing is capped by a rental stress test rather than by your salary, and the sums differ sharply between personal ownership and a limited company. Portfolio landlords with four or more mortgaged properties face extra underwriting. With self-employed lending also covered, business-owner landlords should find both halves of the case understood.
Read the buy-to-let guideFirst-Time Buyers
First-time-buyer work means walking someone through it from scratch: what deposit is realistic, what an agreement in principle is worth to an estate agent, which schemes still exist and what lenders will ask to see.
Read the first-time buyers guideResidential
Standard residential advice covers buying, moving and remortgaging on your own home — the bulk of UK mortgage lending, and the area where switching deal at the right moment usually saves the most. Paired with self-employed lending, it should cover employed and variable-income applicants equally.
Read the residential guideFees: what this means for you
Charges a broker fee
You pay this firm for its advice on top of the lender's product fee, valuation and legal costs. Ask for the amount, the point at which it becomes payable and whether it is refundable if the case falls through — firms must disclose this before you commit. Buy-to-let and limited-company cases are often charged differently from residential ones — ask which bracket you fall into.
Fee-free vs fee-charging brokers, compared →Checking this firm on the FCA register
Verify before you share anything.
We hold no Firm Reference Number for this listing and have not verified the firm. Check the name on the FCA register before taking advice.
Questions to ask Richard Rapley
Tailored to this listing.
- 1How many lenders can you recommend from — the whole market, a limited panel, or a single lender?
- 2What is your fee, when is it payable, and do I get it back if the application does not complete?
- 3How will lenders read my income — salary plus dividends, net profit, or day rate — and do you work with lenders that use my latest year rather than an average?
- 4How does the rental stress test change what I can borrow, and would buying through a limited company work out better for me after tax?
- 5What deposit do I realistically need for the properties I am looking at, and which schemes am I actually eligible for?
- 6Based on my income and commitments, what is the realistic maximum here, and when should I be starting the next remortgage?
- 7Do you see clients at your Luton office, or is this handled by phone and video?
Getting in touch with Richard Rapley
Richard Rapley lists a phone number alongside its own website, so you can either call or start with an online enquiry.
- First conversations are free and non-committal.What a broker does
- Bring payslips, statements, existing mortgage details.Document checklist
- Compare two or three brokers.How to choose
Reviews
No reviews for Richard Rapley yet.
Have you used Richard Rapley?
What you needed. How it went. What it cost.
Frequently asked questions
Does Richard Rapley charge a fee for mortgage advice?
Yes. Richard Rapley is listed as fee-charging, so you pay the firm for its advice in addition to lender and legal costs. Ask for the exact amount, when it becomes payable and whether you get it back if the application does not complete. Buy-to-let and limited-company cases are often charged differently from residential ones — ask which bracket you fall into.
What types of mortgage does Richard Rapley handle?
Richard Rapley - Mortgage and Protection Advice records self-employed, buy-to-let, first-time buyers and residential, working from Luton. Ask anyway if your case sits outside that list.
Does Richard Rapley work with self-employed borrowers?
Yes — self-employed lending is one of the areas Richard Rapley lists. Have your last two to three years of accounts or SA302s and corresponding tax year overviews ready. The figure you can borrow depends heavily on which lender is used, because they treat retained profit, dividends and contract income very differently.
Does Richard Rapley only cover Luton?
Richard Rapley - Mortgage and Protection Advice is listed in Luton, but UK brokers are not restricted to their own area and most advise nationally by phone or video. You can also compare other mortgage brokers in Luton on MortgageMatch.
MortgageMatch is a directory, not a broker. We do not give advice. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments.