New-build, leasehold, cladding: where the Islamic book says no.

Islamic providers are small. Small books are cowards about: short leases, ground rent that doubles, buildings with EWS1 problems, flats above commercial, ex-council, unusual construction, 5% deposits in weak postcodes, new-build where the developer’s solicitor will not speak HPP.

That cowardice is rational. A partnership in a building that cannot be sold is a partnership in a trap. Conventional lenders have more appetite because they have more capital and a deeper securitisation market. The premium and the ‘no’ are the same fact.