The Intermediary – August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 68
In Profile.
Q&A
Jessica Bird speaks with Karen Rodrigues, director of sales
at TAB, about how the lender is responding to an everevolving market
K
aren Rodrigues started her
career at Halifax, rapidly
becoming one of the
youngest female
managers in the region.
She went on to roles that touched on
life insurance, broking, specialist and
sub-prime lending, adverse credit,
second charge and conveyancing, before
arriving to bring this experience to bear
at TAB in April 2026. The Intermediary sat
down with Rodrigues, now director of sales,
to discuss how she has watched both borrower
behaviour and the infrastructure around lending
change.
What borrowers want
Rodrigues’ career has given her a grounding across
the entire property finance and house purchase
ecosystem, observing its evolution. For example,
at Kensington she had an early experience of
brokers insisting their clients did not have adverse
credit, only to later arrive at the door with those
very cases, with attitudes changing from one
generation of borrowers to the next.
She says: “Having seen all sides of the industry
gives me an understanding. For example,
conveyancers get an absolutely raw deal at the
moment, but actually delays are not necessarily
their fault.”
Rodrigues points to the work being done by
figures such as Maria Harris of the OPDA and Kate
Faulkner of the Home Buying & Selling Group as
vital to evolving the market.
She has also seen the fallout when the market
has taken a wrong turn, such as watching the
events of 2008-9. Rodrigues points to the
regulatory tightening that followed as a necessary
reaction that helped the market improve, even if
the restrictions may now feel too strict.
Not only has the market changed, but
borrowers’ needs have too, Rodrigues explains:
“We have seen a definite shift in what the
borrower is looking for, and I think the market has
adapted really well to that.”
Rodrigues continues: “Then, from the specialist
finance point of view, what we’ve seen is a
dynamic shift. Borrowers don’t just want that
quick money anymore, they actually want a lender
66
The Intermediary | August 2026
that understands the complex situations.
Particularly as we’re still seeing the fallout
from Covid-19.
“They very much want a regular funder,
one that they can come back to, which
understands the dynamic, and where
the borrower can understand the type
of property transactions the lender is
interested in, and what works for them.”
Rodrigues points to a rise in semicommercial and mixed-use over traditional
residential property investment, adding:
“Whereas before, your property portfolio would
KAREN
have always been bricks and mortar and it
RODRIGUES
would have been houses and houses in multiple
occupation (HMOs), now we’re seeing a blend
coming in – two flats above a light industrial unit,
for example.”
To track this change, TAB published its first
quarterly Mixed-Use Mortgage Monitor, finding
that this year, semi-commercial mortgage lending
is on track to exceed £1bn for the first time.
Rodrigues says: “This is where we’re seeing the
growth area, we’re not sitting back and resting
on our laurels. It is very much a barometer for
where the market is going. Brokers are diversifying
to earn more money, networks are increasingly
expecting them to, and if they’re not in semicommercial, they should be.”
Thinking differently
In the face of changing demands and expectations,
TAB welcomes conversations with brokers.
Rodrigues says: “A mortgage is a mortgage. The
asset is the changing dynamic. We are here to
help, and if you don’t know the answer, I’d rather
you pick up the phone and ask. Nine times out of
10 there is something we can do.
“Most specialist lenders have got a very
experienced team who know the criteria inside
out and back to front. So, why not ask a specialist?
At TAB, we will hand-hold right from that initial
conversation, the whole way through. You’ve got
automatic access to the underwriters, they’re
not locked away, and they have a fantastic
relationship with the sales team, which means we
can challenge them. Specialist lending is a jigsaw
puzzle. It’s about making sure that you put the
right pieces in the right place.”
