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Your Sourcing Fee Depends on Information You Have Not Read

You call yourself a deal sourcer. You make your living by finding below-market-value properties before anyone else, analysing the numbers, and presenting the deal to your investor network. When the deal stacks up, you earn a sourcing fee — £3,000, £4,000, sometimes £5,000 or more per deal.

But here is the question nobody at your last property networking event asked: have you actually read the legal pack?

You know the numbers. You have run the comparable sales on Rightmove. You have calculated the refurb costs, the projected rental yield, and the Day 1 uplift. You have a beautiful deal analysis spreadsheet that would make a venture capitalist weep with joy.

But have you checked whether the lease has 68 years remaining — making it unmortgageable for your investor? Have you checked whether the ground rent doubles every 15 years — meaning no high-street lender will touch it? Have you checked whether a restrictive covenant from 1912 prohibits "use as other than a single private dwelling" — meaning the HMO conversion your investor is banking on is dead before it starts?

Most sourcers have not. Because reading a 200-page legal pack was never part of the deal sourcing course. Because the mentor who taught you to "find deals" never taught you to "find risks." And because, until now, the only way to screen a legal pack was to spend £300 on a solicitor or spend four hours reading dense legal text that you are not trained to interpret.

Unwildered changes this. For £20, the AI screens the legal pack in approximately 10 minutes, runs more than 30 risk checks calibrated to UK mortgage lender criteria, and gives you a traffic-light report that tells you whether your "deal" is actually a deal — or a liability you are about to sell to someone who trusts you.

The Sourcer's Reputation Problem

Deal sourcing lives and dies on reputation. Your investors come back because the last deal worked. They pay your fee because they trust your analysis. They refer you to their network because you delivered what you promised.

Now imagine this: you source a two-bed flat at auction. Guide price £120,000. Comparable sales at £160,000. Rental yield: 7.2%. You pitch it to your investor. They pay your £4,000 sourcing fee. They bid £130,000 and win.

Three weeks later, their mortgage broker calls. The application has been declined. The lease has 73 years remaining. The lender requires 85 years at the start of the mortgage. The investor now owns a flat they cannot mortgage. They paid £4,000 for a "deal" that is unmortgageable.

That investor is never coming back. They are never paying another sourcing fee. They are telling every landlord at the next networking event that your deals are not properly vetted. Your pipeline dries up. Your income drops. All because of information that was sitting on page 4 of the title register — information that a 10-minute AI screening would have caught before you ever pitched the deal.

This is not hypothetical. This happens every month across the UK property sourcing community. The sourcer who screens legal packs protects their fee, their reputation, and their future income. The sourcer who does not is one bad deal away from losing everything they have built.

The 6 Legal Pack Traps That Destroy Sourcing Deals

These are the risks that turn profitable deals into refund requests. Every one of them is invisible in the property listing but visible in the legal pack.

Trap 1: The Unmortgageable Lease

Your investor needs a mortgage. The lease has 71 years remaining. No mainstream lender will lend below 70 years. Most require 85+ at the point of application. Your "7% yield" deal is now a cash-only purchase — and your investor does not have £130,000 in cash.

What Unwildered catches: The AI extracts the remaining lease term, maps it against tiered lender thresholds, and tells you exactly where this property sits on the mortgageability spectrum. You know before you pitch whether the investor's mortgage will be approved.

Trap 2: The Doubling Ground Rent

Ground rent: £250. Sounds fine. But the lease contains a clause that doubles it every 20 years. By 2045, it will be £500. By 2065, £1,000. Once the ground rent exceeds £250 per annum (or £1,000 in London), the property risks falling into the "assured shorthold tenancy" trap. More immediately, most mortgage lenders refuse to lend against properties with any doubling clause.

What Unwildered catches: The AI detects escalation clauses — doubling, RPI-linked, CPI-linked, step-up — and projects the ground rent forward 25 and 50 years. You see the long-term picture, not just today's number.

Trap 3: The HMO-Killing Covenant

Your investor wants to convert a large house into a six-bed HMO. You have sourced a Victorian terrace with the right layout. But the Charges Register contains a restrictive covenant: "Not to use the property for any trade, business, or purpose other than a single private dwelling house."

The HMO conversion is dead. The investor's entire strategy is void. And they paid you £4,000 to find this "deal."

What Unwildered catches: The AI scans the Charges Register for restrictive covenants and translates them into plain English. It specifically flags covenants that conflict with common investment strategies — HMO conversion, subdivision, commercial use, serviced accommodation, and external alteration.

Trap 4: The Hidden Costs in Special Conditions

Guide price: £95,000. You budget for stamp duty, legal fees, and refurb. You pitch a total investment of £115,000 with a projected value of £145,000. Then your investor reads the special conditions:

• Buyer's premium: 3% (£2,850)

• Administration fee: £900

• Contribution to seller's legal costs: £1,200

• Service charge arrears transferred to buyer: £2,400

Your total investment is now £122,350. Your Day 1 uplift just shrank by £7,350. Your investor questions whether the deal stacks up — and whether you knew about these hidden costs when you pitched it.

What Unwildered catches: The AI extracts every financial obligation from the special conditions and calculates the True Cost of Acquisition. You pitch the real number, not the guide price fantasy.

Trap 5: The Article 4 Direction

You source a property in a council area that has introduced an Article 4 Direction, removing permitted development rights for HMO conversions. This means the investor needs full planning permission to convert to an HMO — a process that takes months, costs thousands, and may be refused.

The property listing does not mention this. The legal pack might — if local authority searches are included. If they are not included (which is common in auction packs), the absence itself is a risk signal.

What Unwildered catches: The AI checks for the presence of local authority search results and flags planning-related restrictions, enforcement notices, and licensing requirements. If searches are missing, it warns you explicitly.

Trap 6: The Section 20 Time Bomb

The building looks fine. The photos show a clean communal area and a maintained garden. But page 87 of the management pack contains a Section 20 notice: the roof needs replacing. Estimated cost: £45,000 for the building. Your investor's share: £9,000. That £9,000 was not in your deal analysis.

What Unwildered catches: The AI checks management documents for Section 20 notices, major works proposals, and outstanding service charge arrears. You know the real financial position of the building, not just the asking price.

Deal Sourcers vs Property Investors: Different Pain, Same Solution

You might be thinking: "This sounds like the same tool investors use. Why do I need it?"

Because your incentives are different, and your exposure is different.

A property investor screens 8 lots before an auction. That is manageable.

A deal sourcer screens 50 properties per month across auction catalogues, estate agent listings, and direct-to-vendor leads. At £300 per solicitor review, that would cost £15,000 per month in legal fees — more than most sourcers earn. At £20 per Unwildered report, it costs £1,000 per month. That is the difference between a viable business and an unsustainable one.

For Lease Option and Rent-to-Rent Operators

If you are operating lease options, purchase lease options, or rent-to-rent strategies, legal pack screening is not a nice-to-have. It is the difference between a compliant, profitable operation and one that collapses the moment someone reads the lease.

Why Lease Option Operators Need This

A lease option gives you the right to purchase a property at a fixed price in the future. You control the property in the meantime — typically by renting it out. But if you have not checked the title, you are operating blindfolded:

• Subletting restrictions: Does the lease or mortgage conditions prohibit the owner from granting a lease option or subletting? If so, your agreement may be unenforceable

• Restrictive covenants: Does the title restrict the property to "use as a single private dwelling"? If you plan to run it as an HMO or serviced accommodation, the covenant blocks you

• Charges Register: Is there a registered charge (mortgage) on the property? The lender's consent may be required for a lease option — and they rarely give it

• Title class: Is this a "possessory" or "qualified" title? If so, there are ownership risks that could invalidate the entire arrangement

Why Rent-to-Rent Operators Need This

Rent-to-rent — where you rent a property from the landlord and sublet it at a higher rent — is entirely dependent on the legal position of the property:

• HMO licensing: Is the property in an area with mandatory or additional HMO licensing? Does it meet the space and safety standards? The legal pack and local authority searches flag this

• Planning permission: Has the property been formally changed from C3 (dwelling house) to C4 (small HMO) or sui generis (large HMO)? If not, you may be operating without planning permission

• Insurance implications: Most standard landlord insurance policies exclude properties run as HMOs or serviced accommodation. The legal pack may contain insurance requirements that conflict with your strategy

• Freeholder or landlord restrictions: If the property is leasehold, the superior lease may restrict subletting, multiple occupation, or business use. You need to check before you sign the management agreement

What Unwildered does for you: Upload the legal pack (or title documents you have obtained from Land Registry for £3 per title) and receive a traffic-light report covering lease restrictions, covenants, planning risk, and charges. You know in 10 minutes whether the property is legally compatible with your strategy — before you sign anything.

The Sourcer's Screening Workflow

Here is how professional deal sourcers integrate Unwildered into their daily process.

Phase 1: Initial Filter (5 Minutes Per Property)

You find a potential deal through auction catalogues, Rightmove, estate agent relationships, or direct-to-vendor marketing. You run the basic numbers — purchase price, comparable value, rental yield, refurb estimate. If the numbers stack up, go to Phase 2.

Phase 2: Legal Pack Screening (10 Minutes Per Property)

Download the legal pack (for auction properties) or order the title register from Land Registry (£3 for any property). Upload to Unwildered. Within 10 minutes, you have a traffic-light report covering:

• Lease length and mortgageability

• Ground rent and escalation risk

• Restrictive covenants that conflict with the intended strategy

• Hidden costs in special conditions

• Missing searches and their implications

• Service charge arrears and Section 20 liabilities

Phase 3: Strategy Compatibility Check (5 Minutes)

Review the Unwildered report against your investor's specific strategy:

• Buy-to-let investor: Check lease length meets lender criteria. Check ground rent is acceptable. Check no covenants restrict letting

• HMO investor: Check no covenants restrict multiple occupation. Check planning position. Check licensing requirements

• Flip investor: Check title is clean. Check no overage clauses. Check completion window allows sufficient time

• Lease option operator: Check for subletting restrictions. Check charges register for lender consent requirements

Phase 4: Pitch With Confidence

Present the deal to your investor with the legal position already screened. Include the key findings: "Lease: 94 years remaining — no issue. Ground rent: fixed at £200 — no escalation. No restrictive covenants affecting HMO use. Two amber flags: local authority search missing and EPC rating D — needs upgrading before letting."

Your investor sees a sourcer who has done more than run a Rightmove comparison. They see someone who understands the full picture. That confidence earns repeat business.

Pricing for Deal Sourcers

The ROI calculation is simple: Your sourcing fee is £3,000–£5,000. One bad deal — one refund — costs you the fee plus the client. One Unwildered report costs £20. Fifty reports per month costs £1,000. That is insurance against the single deal that would otherwise destroy your reputation and your business.

What Unwildered Is Not

Let us be direct about what this tool does and does not do, because deal sourcing operates in a regulatory grey area that demands clarity.

• Not legal advice. Unwildered is not a solicitor and does not provide legal advice. The AI report is a screening tool that surfaces risks for your further investigation. Your investor should always instruct their own solicitor before exchanging contracts.

• Not a compliance shield. If you are sourcing deals in England and Wales, you should be aware of your obligations. Property Ombudsman membership, client money protection, anti-money laundering checks, and transparent fee disclosure are your responsibility — not Unwildered's.

• Not a valuation or investment recommendation. Unwildered screens legal risks. It does not tell you whether a property is a good investment. That is your job as the sourcer. What it does is ensure that the legal position does not contradict the investment case you are building.

• Not regulated by the SRA or FCA. Unwildered is a technology product, not a legal or financial service.

The Sourcer Who Reads the Legal Pack Wins

Property deal sourcing in 2026 is more competitive than ever. Every networking event produces twenty new "sourcers" who have watched a YouTube course and downloaded a deal analysis template. They are all running the same Rightmove comparables. They are all pitching the same yields.

The sourcers who survive — the ones who build lasting investor relationships and earn consistent fees — are the ones who can do something the YouTube graduates cannot: identify legal risk before it becomes a financial disaster.

Your investor has a choice between two sourcers. One sends a deal sheet with comparable sales and a yield estimate. The other sends a deal sheet with comparable sales, a yield estimate, and a legal risk screening showing the property is clear of restrictive covenants, has a mortgageable lease, and has no hidden costs in the special conditions.

Which one gets the fee? Which one gets the referral? Which one is still in business next year?

£20. Ten minutes. More than 30 checks. The answer before your competitor has even opened the legal pack.

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Disclaimer: This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice.