Bridging Loan Case Studies Swansea

The borrower picked up a vacant two-bed terrace at a south-Wales 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 Swansea BTL landlord won the lot at a Cardiff-based regional auction. The legal pack disclosed a non-protected occupier in the rear bedroom and a damp survey flagging rising damp on the back elevation. Most mainstream BTL lenders would not look at it.

We pitched to MT Finance and Roma Finance on day one and signed indicative terms with Roma at 0.90% per month. The occupier was rehoused before completion through the borrower's solicitor, and the valuer agreed a post-works open-market value of £165,000. Legals cleared 15 working days from offer and the bridge drew down with two days of the auction clock still to run.

A small builder operating out of SA7 picked up a tired three-bed semi at a probate auction with a 28-day completion. The property sat on the DVLA Morriston commuter belt with strong post-refurb resale demand from staff buying in the SA6 catchment. He needed a bridge inside 14 working days because the auction clock was already 14 days in by the time he came to us.

We pitched to Hope Capital who priced at 0.85% per month against the open-market value as-is. Valuation, legals and drawdown ran in parallel under a streamlined valuation arrangement. Completion landed 11 working days after triage. The borrower funded the works from his own cash position; the bridge funded the purchase only.

An experienced HMO landlord bought a four-bed Victorian terrace in Uplands aimed squarely at the Swansea University student-let market, with Singleton Park campus a 12-minute walk and the Bay Campus accessible by direct bus. The layout was already four bedrooms and a shared living-kitchen, but the property needed an EPC uplift to a C rating, compliant fire separation, and updated electrics to satisfy the local HMO licensing standard.

We packaged the case to Roma Finance who priced at 0.95% per month with a stage-release works budget on top of the purchase. The 9-month term included a 3-month works window and a 3-month seasoning period before the BTL refinance lender would consider the case. Works completed at week 13 with the QS signing off each stage, and the property was let to four students from the September intake.

A holiday-let operator with three existing Gower properties bought a tired three-bed Victorian cottage a short walk from Mumbles Pier and the Oystermouth Castle approach. The cottage sat inside a designated conservation area and needed a full restoration: roof, single-glazed sash windows, a damp-affected rear extension, and a kitchen that had not been touched since the 1960s. Planning consent for the restoration was in the system but not yet granted at the point of purchase.

We packaged the case to United Trust Bank who took comfort from the borrower's three-property track record and the in-principle holiday-let refinance exit. The 12-month bridge funded the purchase at 65% LTV with the works budget released in three stage payments after planning came through. Planning was granted at month 3 and works ran from month 3 to month 10, with the QS signing off each stage.

A retired couple in their early 70s wanted to complete on a smaller two-bed house in Uplands before their larger detached home in Sketty finished going through the sale process. The buyers on the existing home were ready in principle but their onward chain had a delay further down. The couple stood to lose the Uplands 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 Sketty home as security, and the onward purchase exchanged on time.

A family with two school-age children needed to complete on a larger four-bed in Killay before the start of the autumn school term. Their existing Mumbles family home was under offer and on track to exchange until their buyer's mortgage lender pulled at the survey stage. Re-marketing would take 4 to 6 weeks and they would lose the Killay purchase.

Regulated bridging introduced to our FCA-authorised partner. The lender priced at 0.70% per month against the new home with first charge on the outgoing Mumbles property. Funds completed 13 working days from the first call, the Killay purchase exchanged the following week, and the family moved in two weeks before the new term started.

A south-Wales regional developer reached practical completion on an eight-unit waterfront apartment block in the Swansea Marina regeneration zone. The development facility was 30 days from expiry and running at expensive dev rates. Three of the eight units had buyers under offer subject to contract but had not exchanged. The other five were on the market with limited offers.

We refinanced the developer off the dev facility onto a 12-month development-exit bridge with Octopus Real Estate at materially lower monthly cost. The case priced at 65% LTV against the gross development value, 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 Maritime Quarter evidence.

A landlord owned a Wind Street mixed-use building: ground-floor licensed retail unit with three one-bed flats over. The commercial 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 long-term term-loan finance secured against the building 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 commercial vacancy priced in. We packaged the lease re-gear plan as part of the exit story. Six months in, the commercial tenant signed a new 10-year lease at a 22% higher rent.

A Mumbles family with a five-bed detached on a quiet SA3 lane wanted to acquire a small Gower holiday-let property at a private treaty sale. The vendor needed a 6-week completion and the family did not want to disturb their existing low-rate first-charge mortgage on the Mumbles home to release equity for the deposit and works budget.

We arranged a 9-month second-charge bridge behind the existing first-charge mortgage. The lender priced at 1.00% per month with combined LTV (first charge plus bridge) capped at 70% of open-market value, effectively a 60% second-charge LTV against the equity stake. The bridge funded the holiday-let purchase, light works and the first six months of operating costs. The exit was a term refinance against the Gower property once it had a 6-month trading record.