Bridging Loan Case Studies Brighton

The borrower picked up a vacant two-bed terrace off Marine Parade at a Sussex regional auction with a 28-day completion deadline. The property was tenantable shell only: no kitchen, dated bathroom, full strip-out required. Standard mortgage lenders would not touch it.

We had the auction pack on our desk by 8am the next morning. Indicative terms came back from two panel lenders inside 24 hours. The borrower signed the better of the two and we packaged the file the same week. Valuation landed inside 5 working days and legals ran in parallel using title insurance. Completion landed 12 working days after the hammer fell, with 16 days of the auction clock still on it.

A retired couple in their late 60s wanted to complete on a smaller townhouse off North Street before their larger existing home in Preston Park 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 couple stood to lose the onward purchase if they could not exchange within 4 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. The packaging team handled the case file and the lender quoted indicative terms inside 24 hours at the regulated rate band. Funds completed in 14 working days against the existing home as security, and the onward purchase exchanged on time.

A first-time investor bought a tired two-bed flat off Church Road with the intent to refurbish to a BTL standard and refinance onto a 5-year fixed BTL mortgage. The property was unmortgageable at purchase: damp issues in the back bedroom, dated electrics, no working kitchen. He needed bridging to get over the line.

We pitched the case to three panel lenders and settled on a 9-month bridge at 72% LTV against the open-market value as-is, with the works budget on top released in two tranches. The refurb ran 10 weeks at a £32,000 budget. Once works were complete we lined up the BTL refinance with a specialist BTL lender at the new valuation, which came in at £470,000.

An experienced landlord bought a six-bed Victorian house off Lewes Road for conversion into a five-let HMO. The property sat inside the Brighton and Hove Article 4 direction, 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 regional developer reached practical completion on a seven-unit waterside scheme at Brighton Marina. The development facility ran at expensive dev rates and was 30 days from expiry. Three of the seven units had buyers under offer subject to contract but had not exchanged. The other four were on the market with no offers yet.

We refinanced the developer off the dev facility onto a development-exit bridge at materially lower monthly cost. The case priced at 65% LTV against the gross development value, term 9 months, with the lender accepting individual unit sales as the redemption mechanism. The packaging covered the build cost reconciliation, the marketing strategy, and individual unit valuations against comparable evidence in the BN2 postcode area.

A portfolio landlord was offered a three-bed Moulsecoomb semi at £395,000 directly from probate executors keen for a quick sale. The desktop valuation pointed to an open-market value of £555,000, a clear BMV opportunity. He wanted to extract capital day one to redeploy on the next deal rather than tie up his own funds for 6 months waiting on a term refinance.

We packaged the case to a lender on the panel who would lend against the open-market value rather than the purchase price, given a 6-month seasoning period was not required. The bridge funded most of the purchase at 65% of OMV. The exit was a BTL refinance against the open-market value at month 6.

An established East Sussex landlord owned a Hove three-bed terrace off Western Road mortgage-free. He found a refurbishment opportunity in BN1 that needed a 30% deposit immediately, plus a works budget. He did not want to sell the Hove property and did not want to wait 8 weeks for a term refinance.

We arranged a 9-month first-charge bridge against the unencumbered Hove property at 60% LTV, releasing £450,000 cash to the borrower's solicitor for the onward purchase. The lender was comfortable because the Hove property was clean, well let to a long-term tenant, and the exit was a term refinance back onto a BTL product once the BN1 refurbishment was complete.

Three siblings inherited their late father's three-bed Patcham semi. Two wanted to sell quickly; one wanted to refurbish first to maximise the sale price. They settled on a 6-month plan to redecorate, update the kitchen, replace the bathroom and resurface the gardens, then list for sale.

The property was held in the deceased's estate, so the bridge ran against the property with the executors signing as the borrower entity. We packaged the case at 65% LTV against the open-market value, term 6 months, with the works budget released in two tranches. The kitchen and bathroom refit ran 8 weeks; redecoration and garden works ran the following 4 weeks.

A landlord owned a North Laine mixed-use building off Old Steine: ground-floor retail unit with three one-bed flats over. The retail tenant's lease was 4 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 specialist term product at a much better valuation.

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 retail vacancy priced in. We packaged the lease re-gear plan as part of the exit story. Six months in, the retail tenant signed a new 10-year lease at a 24% higher rent.

A regional developer secured an option to buy a Preston Park site with newly granted planning consent for five two-bed houses. The seller wanted completion inside 6 weeks. The developer had a development facility lined up but it would not draw down until site preparation, demolitions and pre-commencement conditions were discharged. He needed a bridge to acquire the land and fund the pre-development work, then refinance onto the dev facility.

Land-only bridges are a narrower lender appetite than property bridges, and the lender takes a careful look at the planning consent, the pre-commencement conditions, and the credibility of the dev facility waiting at exit. We packaged the case to one of the specialist development-lending desks who took comfort from a clean planning approval, a known developer track record and an in-principle commitment from the dev lender.