Bridging Finance Solutions

Bridging finance is short-term lending, secured against property, designed to fund a specific gap between now and a defined future point. It can move quickly, it can solve genuine problems, and it is appropriate in a number of real situations.

It is also one of the most frequently misused products in the commercial finance market. The reason is almost always the same: the exit was not properly thought through before the loan was taken on.

We arrange bridging finance and we also regularly help businesses and property investors understand whether bridging is actually the right answer for their situation. Sometimes it is not.

• Purchasing a property at auction, where speed is essential and a conventional mortgage cannot move fast enough
• Buying a new property before the sale of an existing one has completed
• Refurbishing a property to the standard required for conventional mortgage finance
• Funding a short-term gap where a specific, certain event will repay the loan within a defined timeframe
• Breaking a chain in a time-sensitive transaction

The single most common failure point in bridging finance is the exit.

Bridging loans are expensive relative to long-term finance. They are designed to be short-term, typically 6 to 18 months. The assumption is that the loan will be repaid, in full, at the end of the term, by a defined and realistic source: the sale of a property, the completion of a remortgage, the receipt of funds from a specific transaction.

When people take bridging finance without a clear, credible, fully considered exit strategy, they create a significant problem for themselves. If the exit does not materialise if the property doesn't sell, the refinance is delayed, or the anticipated funds don't arrive the cost of extending or refinancing a bridging loan can be severe.

Before you take bridging finance, you should be able to answer this question clearly: how, specifically, will this loan be repaid, and what happens if that route takes longer than expected?

If you cannot answer it clearly, we will tell you that before you commit to anything.

We work with a wide panel of bridging lenders from mainstream providers through to specialist short-term lenders who can move very quickly on the right cases. We will assess the property, the loan requirement, the borrower profile, and critically the exit strategy before we identify the right lender.

We will not arrange bridging finance where the exit is not credible. That is not in your interest, and it is not how we work.

All commissions are disclosed before you commit to anything.