Private Lending Readiness Checklist

The categories

Names and formats vary by counterparty. The categories are consistent. No terms, pricing or requirements of any particular lender are stated here.

• □Entity and authority records: formation, good standing, governing documents, signing authority.
• □Site or asset control: deed, purchase agreement, option, assignment history.
• □Title and survey, current, with exceptions read and addressed.
• □Environmental and geotechnical reports, with dates and reliance language.
• □Approvals and utility record, including conditions and provider confirmations.
• □Cost basis: budget with quantities, contracts, bids, contingency and escalation.
• □Schedule with durations and a stated basis.
• □Delivery team: contracts, scopes, licensing and insurance evidence.
• □Insurance: coverages matching the stage of work.
• □Operating or market evidence for the project type, sourced and dated.
• □Sponsor and guarantor records as required by the counterparty.

Condition, not just existence

• □Current: an expired or stale document is a gap, not a file item.
• □Complete: including exhibits, amendments and signature pages.
• □Consistent: the same figures and dates across documents.
• □Attributed: who prepared it, when, and under what scope.
• □Reliance: whether the recipient is permitted to rely on it.

Common reasons a file stalls

• □Authority cannot be traced to a signer.
• □Title exceptions were never read, only received.
• □The budget and the contracts disagree.
• □The schedule has dates but no durations or basis.
• □Reports exist but were prepared for someone else with no reliance.
• □Answers arrive one at a time instead of as an organised file.

Before the term sheet

• □Build the index first and fill it in; do not wait to be asked.
• □Close the gaps you can close cheaply now.
• □Write down the gaps you cannot close, with a plan and a date.
• □Decide who answers diligence questions, and keep it to one channel.
• □Keep a log of what was sent, to whom and when.