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Niche Advice Guide

About Richard Stokes

Richard Stokes Director – Director, Mortgage Adviser & Compliance Lead · 3 min read

About Richard Stokes

Richard Stokes — Director, Niche Advice Limited

I’m one of two directors at Niche Advice Limited — equal 50/50 partners with Payam Azadi. Both of us advise clients directly on mortgages and specialist property finance, and I look after my own client book alongside Payam’s. We frequently cross-cover each other’s cases — clients often speak to whichever of us is closest to the file, and we share the same standards on what we’ll and won’t put forward to lenders.

Inside the firm, the division of labour is clear: Payam leads sales, marketing and the firm’s content output (including the @Nicheadvice YouTube channel); I lead compliance, operations and HR. That second hat is why every piece of advice we give and every promotion we publish gets a final review before it goes out.

I hold the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) Diploma in Financial Services (DipFS), including the Certificate in Mortgage Advice — the FCA-recognised qualification path for UK mortgage practitioners, at Level 4 (a step above the basic mortgage certificate). Niche Advice Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA Firm Reference Number 750263) and is a Credit Broker — we don’t lend directly; we arrange finance through our whole-of-market lender panel.

How I advise clients

I work the same way Payam does on the client side — same panel, same lender relationships, same standards on what we’ll and won’t recommend. Plain English, no jargon walls, realistic advice on what’s achievable before any application is submitted. If borrowing isn’t right for a client’s situation, I’ll say so.

My focus areas overlap with Payam’s across the firm’s specialist mix — visa & foreign national mortgages, self-employed and limited company directors, bridging finance, HMO and portfolio buy-to-let, and adverse credit complex cases.

My compliance role at the firm

As the compliance-responsible director, I’m accountable for the firm’s regulatory posture across every case we arrange. The day-to-day spans:

  • Compliance governance. FCA requirements, MCOB conduct rules, the financial-promotion regime (FG24/1), Consumer Duty (PRIN 12), the Extra Care Customer (FG21/1) framework, and the firm’s internal review of every promotion before publication.
  • Operations. Case workflow, document handling, lender submissions, client onboarding.
  • HR. Team development, recruitment, ongoing professional standards.
  • Compliance review of editorial output. Every piece of written and video content the firm publishes is reviewed by me for regulatory accuracy before it goes live. The “fact-checked + compliance-reviewed” line on the firm’s editorial standards page is not boilerplate — it’s an actual workflow.

What we specialise in (firm-wide)

Niche Advice serves clients whose situations don’t fit neatly into high-street lending criteria. We are not tied to any bank, building society or insurer — every recommendation is driven by what’s right for the client. Our case mix across 17 years of operation:

  • Visa & foreign national mortgages — Skilled Worker, Spouse, Tier 1, Refugee, ILR-pending, Dependant, and overseas-resident applicants
  • Self-employed and limited company directors — including retained-profit affordability and day-rate contractor cases
  • Bridging finance — auction, chain-break, probate, heavy refurbishment, HMO conversion
  • HMO and portfolio buy-to-let — first-time landlords through to large portfolios
  • Adverse credit complex cases — CCJ, default, IVA, discharged bankruptcy, mortgage decline recovery

Credentials

Professional qualificationChartered Insurance Institute (CII) Diploma in Financial Services (DipFS), including Certificate in Mortgage Advice — FCA-approved RQF Level 4
FirmCo-founder + Director, Niche Advice Limited (founded 2008, Company No. 06599033)
FCA statusCompliance-responsible director of an FCA-authorised firm (FRN 750263)
Client-facing remitMortgage adviser — own client book, cross-cover with Payam
Internal remitCompliance, Operations & HR

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Contact

0207 993 2044