Bridging Loan Case Studies Hampshire

An investor client picked up a vacant mixed-use parade lot at a Hampshire regional auction with a 28-day completion deadline. The ground-floor retail unit was tenantable but tired; the two one-bed flats above had been empty for nine months. Standard term lenders would not look at the building because of the mixed-use complication and the gap in service-charge records.

We had the auction pack on our desk by 8am the next morning. Indicative terms came back from MT Finance and one other panel lender inside 24 hours. The borrower signed and we packaged the file the same week. The valuer used a blended methodology, treating the retail unit on a yield basis and the flats on comparable evidence. Title insurance covered the service-charge gap. Completion landed 16 working days after the hammer fell, with 12 days of the auction clock still on it.

An experienced landlord bought a Victorian semi in the SO15 Highfield/Portswood student catchment for conversion into a five-let licensed HMO targeting University of Southampton tenants. The property sat inside the city's Article 4 designation, which removed permitted-development rights for HMO conversion. Planning consent had been applied for but was not yet granted at the point of purchase. The works also required structural alteration for compliant fire separation and an EPC uplift to a C rating.

We packaged the case to a heavy-refurbishment specialist on the panel who accepted the planning-pending status with a conditional release of the works tranche. The 12-month bridge funded the purchase at 65% LTV with the works budget released in three stage payments. Planning came through at month 3 and works completed at month 9 with a quantity surveyor signing off each stage.

A family upsizing within Winchester wanted to complete on a Georgian townhouse in St Cross before their existing family home in SO22 finished going through the sale process. The buyers on the existing home were ready in principle but their chain had a delay further down. The family stood to lose the onward purchase if they could not exchange within five weeks.

Because the security was their existing owner-occupied home, the bridge was regulated. We introduced them to one of our FCA-authorised partners who carried out the regulated activity. Hope Capital quoted indicative terms inside 24 hours at the regulated rate band against the existing home. Funds completed in 13 working days against first charge on the outgoing property, and the onward purchase exchanged on time.

A regional developer reached practical completion on a six-unit scheme just off the M3 corridor north of Basingstoke. The development facility ran at expensive dev rates and was 28 days from expiry. Two of the six units had buyers under offer subject to contract but had not exchanged. The other four were on the market with no offers yet, and the developer wanted breathing space to sell down properly rather than dump.

We refinanced the developer off the dev facility onto a development-exit bridge with Octopus Real Estate at materially lower monthly cost. The case priced at 65% LTV against gross development value, term 12 months, with the lender accepting individual unit sales as the redemption mechanism plus partial retention onto BTL refinance for two units. The packaging covered the build cost reconciliation, the marketing strategy, and unit valuations against comparable RG24 evidence.

A precision-engineering business operating in the Farnborough Airport supply chain needed to buy its own freehold unit after the landlord on its leased premises served notice to redevelop. The business had a commercial owner-occupier mortgage application in flight with a high-street lender, but the seller's deadline for completion was 6 weeks and the term application was running at 12 weeks. The directors needed a bridge to secure the unit while the term mortgage caught up.

We packaged the case as an unregulated commercial bridge on the freehold security. The lender took comfort from a clean three-year set of business accounts, the existing relationship with the term lender, and a confirmed agreement-in-principle from the term lender. Underwriting on the bridge moved inside seven working days. Valuation came back at £510,000, supporting a 65% LTV bridge against the £475,000 purchase price.

A portfolio landlord bought a detached four-bed in Fleet GU51 to convert into a four-let professional-let HMO targeting M3-corridor commuters and AA HQ workers in Basingstoke. Fleet's HMO market sits at the higher end of Hampshire pricing because of station access to Waterloo and the corporate-commuter demographic. The borrower needed a bridge to fund the purchase plus the works budget for ensuite additions, kitchen upgrade and AST-ready specification.

We packaged the case with LendInvest at 70% LTV against the £410,000 purchase plus a £58,000 works budget. The area is not under Article 4, so HMO conversion was a planning matter rather than a permitted-development restriction. The local authority HMO licence application ran alongside the works. Roma Finance offered marginally tighter pricing but a slower valuation appointment, so we placed the case with LendInvest for the speed.

A landlord with an existing Solent holiday-let portfolio bought a two-bed flat within walking distance of Lymington harbour, intending to refurbish to a high specification and list on the major short-let platforms for the New Forest day-trip and yachting market. The vendor accepted a fast purchase price below the open-market value for completion inside four weeks. Standard residential mortgage lenders would not lend for short-let use without seasoned operating evidence, so a bridge was the right route.

We arranged a 6-month bridge at 65% LTV against the purchase price, funding the £24,000 cosmetic works budget on top through a single drawdown after the kitchen and bathroom were complete. A leasehold service-charge dispute on the freeholder's records was cleared with title insurance at the legal stage. Completion landed 19 working days from enquiry.

A husband-and-wife development team bought a Grade II listed thatched cottage in a Romsey conservation area with an open-market value of £310,000 against a purchase price of £278,000. The cottage needed a full sympathetic refurbishment including thatch replacement, lime-plaster repair, period sash window restoration and a kitchen that worked within the listed-building constraints. Resale at the upper end of the Test Valley period-cottage market was the planned exit.

Listed-building bridges narrow the lender panel and demand a valuer comfortable with listed stock. We placed the case with United Trust Bank at 65% LTV against the open-market value, term 9 months, with the £62,000 works budget released in two stage payments after the thatch and the structural lime-work completed. The conservation officer engaged constructively, which kept the works schedule on track.

A landlord owned a Petersfield town-centre mixed-use building: ground-floor retail unit with three one-bed flats over. The commercial tenant's lease was four months from expiry and the landlord wanted breathing room to re-gear the lease at a higher rent, refurbish the common parts and stabilise the income before refinancing onto a long-term commercial term loan at a much better valuation. The existing lender would not extend on competitive terms.

We arranged a 12-month bridge against the building at 65% LTV. The lender took comfort from the residential income covering interest on a serviced basis, with the commercial vacancy priced in. We packaged the lease re-gear plan as part of the exit story. Five months in, the commercial tenant signed a new 10-year lease at a 21% higher rent. The cleaner income profile then supported the commercial refinance.

A regional developer secured an option to buy a vacant 1980s office building in central Aldershot with Class MA prior approval recently granted for conversion into 12 residential flats. The seller wanted completion inside six weeks. The developer had a specialist development facility lined up but it would not draw down until pre-commencement conditions were discharged and the existing building had been formally surveyed for asbestos and demolition strip-out. He needed a bridge to acquire the building and fund the initial design and survey work, then refinance onto the development facility.

Class MA conversions sit at the more specialist end of bridging lender appetite. We packaged the case with one of the specialist development-lending desks who took comfort from a clean Class MA prior approval, a known developer track record and an in-principle commitment from the dev lender for the construction phase. The bridge funded the acquisition at 65% LTV against the £1,120,000 purchase price, with no works tranche on the bridge itself.