Bridging Loan Case Studies Cambridgeshire

The borrower picked up a tired mixed-use property in central Peterborough at a regional auction with a 28-day completion deadline. The ground floor retail unit was let to a long-standing tenant with 9 months remaining on the lease; the two flats above were vacant. Standard commercial term mortgages would not work inside the auction timeline and the legal pack flagged a leasehold quirk on the retail demise.

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. Valuation landed inside 6 working days and legals ran in parallel using title insurance to bridge the leasehold quirk. Completion landed 16 working days after the hammer fell, with 12 days of the auction clock still on it.

An experienced landlord bought a four-bed Victorian terrace in CB1 for conversion into a six-let HMO targeted at the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin postgraduate professional rental market. The property sat inside Cambridge City Council's Article 4 designation, removing permitted-development rights for HMO conversion. Planning consent had been applied for but was not yet granted at the point of purchase. 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 tied to QS sign-off. Planning came through at month 4 and works completed at month 10.

An academic and pharma-executive couple in their mid 50s found a £3.1m five-bed detached in CB3 with a vendor under pressure to complete quickly. Their existing CB2 Victorian townhouse was on the market at £2.65m but had no firm offer yet. They had personal savings to fund the difference but needed to complete on the onward purchase within 8 weeks or lose it.

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. The bridge ran against the existing CB2 home as security, completing in 14 working days, and the onward CB3 purchase exchanged on time.

A regional developer reached practical completion on a twelve-unit scheme on the St Neots fringe targeted at the Cambourne and Cambridge tech-spillover commuter market. The development facility ran at expensive dev rates and was 45 days from expiry. Four of the twelve units had buyers under offer subject to contract but had not exchanged. Four were on the market with no firm offers. The developer wanted to retain the remaining four units on long-term BTL once the scheme had sold down.

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. Packaging covered the build-cost reconciliation, the marketing strategy, individual unit valuations and the BTL refinance plan on the retained four.

A professional couple relocating from London bought a tired but characterful five-bed Victorian villa on the Ely cathedral fringe for £680,000. The property needed full internal refurbishment: kitchen, bathrooms, full rewire, heritage window restoration and listed-building consent on two specific works items. Standard high-street mortgage lenders declined on the basis of works required and the lack of a working kitchen.

We packaged the case to a panel lender as a refurbishment bridge, with the works budget released in two tranches against quantity-surveyor sign-off. The 9-month term covered the works programme and a margin for the term refinance. Listed-building consent came through at month 2 and works ran 6 months from purchase. The borrowers moved in at month 7 of the bridge term.

A Fenland portfolio landlord bought a former bank branch on Wisbech high street with Class MA prior approval already in place for conversion of the upper three floors into four self-contained flats. The retained retail at ground floor was let on a 5-year lease at modest rent. The upper floors had not been occupied in 8 years and needed full conversion work including new services and fire-separation between the retail and the residential demise above.

We packaged the case to a heavy-refurb lender on the panel who took comfort from the Class MA approval, the experienced Fenland landlord track record and the steady retail income covering interest. The 12-month bridge funded the purchase at 65% LTV with the works budget released in two tranches. Works took 7 months from purchase to four-flat completion and EPC certification.

A developer bought a redundant two-storey 1980s office building on the Huntingdon edge with prior approval already in place for office-to-residential conversion under the permitted-development right. The plan was six self-contained one-bed and two-bed flats targeted at the Huntingdon commuter market on the East Coast Main Line. The conversion required works to meet building regulations Part E sound insulation between flats, with the original office floors not designed for residential occupation.

We packaged the case to a panel lender comfortable with the PD route, with the works budget released in three tranches against monitoring surveyor sign-off. The 12-month bridge covered the purchase at 65% LTV plus the works budget on top. Sound insulation works added 6 weeks to the programme but came in under budget.

A software-sector professional relocating internally from a Cambridge city CB4 terrace to a Cambourne new-build family home faced a developer incentive deadline that required exchange within 5 weeks. The CB4 property was on the market and had received two offers, but neither was firm and the chain on each had complications. The couple did not want to lose the Cambourne incentive or the onward house.

Regulated bridging through one of our FCA-authorised partners. The lender quoted at 0.70% per month against the CB4 existing home as first-charge security, with the new Cambourne home funded by the bridge plus the borrowers' existing deposit. Funds drew down in 13 working days and the Cambourne exchange completed inside the developer's incentive window.

The borrower picked up a three-bed semi in St Ives at a regional Cambridgeshire auction with a 28-day completion deadline. The property had been in the same family since 1976 and came to auction as part of a probate sale. Decoration was dated, the kitchen and bathroom were original 1970s, but the property was structurally sound and tenantable as a refurb-to-sell project. Standard mortgage lenders would not lend without a kitchen update.

We had the auction pack on our desk by 9am the next morning. Indicative terms came back from MT Finance and LendInvest inside 24 hours. The borrower signed the better offer and we packaged the file the same week. Valuation landed inside 4 working days. Completion landed 12 working days after the hammer fell, well inside the 28-day clock.

An established Cambridgeshire portfolio landlord bought a four-bed family home within walking distance of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and Addenbrooke's Hospital for conversion to a five-bed professional HMO. The CB2 location sat inside the Article 4 designation, so HMO change of use required planning consent. The works included an attic conversion to create a fifth en-suite letting room, alongside fire-separation and EPC works.

We packaged the case to United Trust Bank with the planning consent already in place from the prior owner. The 9-month bridge funded the purchase at 70% LTV with the works budget released in two tranches. Attic conversion and fire-separation works took 5 months. The landlord pre-let four of the five rooms to Addenbrooke's and Cambridge Biomedical Campus professionals before completion, with the fifth room let inside a fortnight of practical completion.