Build it
Build it
Development finance
Ground-up, conversion and part-built schemes, from site purchase to exit.
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Development finance
Which cap binds, loan to cost or loan to GDV, and the real day-one equity.
Build to Rent development
Underwritten on stabilised yield and DSCR, not sales rate.
Mezzanine and stretched senior
The gap between senior LTC and what you can fund, and the true blended cost.
Heavy refurbishment and conversion
Where refurbishment stops being a bridge: structure, change of use, drawdowns.
Part-built and rescue finance
Valuing an unfinished asset when the contractor has gone.
Bridge it
Bridge it
Bridging finance
Short-term debt where the deadline, the asset or the exit will not wait.
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Purchase bridge
Completing before the money is in place: chain breaks, tight deadlines, unmortgageable stock.
Development exit finance
Off development debt at a lower rate, to buy sales time and release equity.
Auction finance
A 28-day clock, and what must be in place before the hammer falls.
Pre-planning and planning gain
Lending against current value with planning upside.
Below market value purchase
Day-one lending against open market value rather than price.
Second charge and capital raising
Raising against existing assets, and first-charge consent.
Light refurbishment finance
Bridge plus refurb tranche, and where the development boundary sits.
Also structuredBridge to let and refinance
Hold it
Hold it
Mortgages and term finance
Long-term debt against income, once the asset is built, let or trading.
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Buy to let mortgages
ICR stress testing, limited company against personal, portfolio rules.
HMO mortgages
A higher cover test, licensing, and the two valuations a lender takes the lower of.
Commercial term, investment
Tenant covenant and lease term, and why DSCR sets the loan.
Commercial term, owner-occupier
Trading accounts and EBITDA rather than rent roll.
Portfolio refinance
Cross-collateralisation, and one facility against individual loans.
Stabilisation and term refinance
The income test replacing the GDV test, and the letting void before term debt engages.
Co-living and PBSA
An operational asset valued on income, and the operator covenant.
Run it
Run it
Business finance
Funding the business behind the property, secured on the ledger, the equipment or the covenant.
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How we work
Case studies
Articles
Tools
Development finance calculator
Size the facility against site cost, build cost and GDV.
Development exit calculator
Refinance the development facility and release equity at PC.
Bridging finance calculator
What a bridge costs, and what actually clears on day one.
Refurbishment finance calculator
Fund the purchase and 100% of the works, with interest rolled to exit.
BTL rental cover calculator
The rent a buy to let must achieve to clear a lender's cover test.
Commercial mortgage calculator
What a commercial property's income will support, and what it costs.
About
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Bridge it › Pre-planning and planning gain
Land without consent cannot be developed and cannot be development financed. There is no gross development value to lend against, no build programme to structure drawdowns around, and nothing for a development lender's legal team to attach to. The site is worth what it is worth today, as land.
Yet the value created by a successful application is often the largest single gain in the whole project, and it is created before a brick is laid. Funding that period is a different product with a different risk: the lender is taking a view on planning outcome and timing, not on construction.
Timing is the risk that actually bites. A committee date that slips a cycle, a consultee objection, or a section 106 negotiation that runs long will all push the refinance past a term that was set optimistically.
Cost the hold through determination, including the slipped committee.
A term matched to the determination timetable, with slack
We size the term against the real planning programme including the likelihood of a slipped committee, because an extension negotiated under pressure is the expensive way to buy the same time.
Conditions identified before they bite
Pre-commencement conditions are what stand between a consent and a development facility. Knowing which ones a lender will care about, at application stage rather than after grant, is the cheapest work in the process.
Valued as land, and honestly
A valuer will be conservative about hope value, and a lender more so. We set expectations on the day one advance against land value rather than the value the consent is expected to create.
Section 106 and CIL in the appraisal
Affordable provision, contributions and levy are scheme costs that arrive with the consent. A scheme that only works before section 106 is a scheme that does not work.
Which lenders play here
Bridging lenders with a genuine land appetite, which is a much smaller group than the number who say they have one. Most price a no-consent site as an outright decline rather than as a higher rate.
65-70%
LTV of land open market value
9-15m
Typical term, planning-led
Land value
What day one is sized on
Full
Consent needed for dev finance
Indicative, and not an offer. What a lender will actually do depends on the scheme, the borrower and a full valuation.
What to have ready
Bring these and we can tell you where you stand.
Each one is something a lender will ask for. Having it early is the difference between a fast answer and a slow one.
✓The site, what you paid or will pay, and the current planning status
✓Your scheme and the GDV you believe consent would support
✓The planning consultant's view on prospects and timetable
✓Known constraints: highways, ecology, flood, heritage, access
✓Likely section 106 and CIL exposure, even as a range
✓Your exit: development finance on grant, or a sale of the consented site
Related
Worth reading on this
Article
HMO Licences and Article 4: What Lenders Check
Article
How to Finance a Development Site Acquisition
Article
How Bridging Works: Term, Interest and the Exit
Next
Related in this pillar.
Common questions
The questions this product raises.
Can I borrow against land without planning permission?
Yes, with a land bridge, though not with development finance. Without consent there is no gross development value to lend against, so the loan is sized on the land as it is today, typically 65 to 70% of its open market value. Far fewer lenders do this than say they do, and most decline a site without consent outright.
What is the exit from a land loan?
Usually the development finance. Once consent is granted, the development lender's day one advance against the land has to repay the land loan, so the land loan can only be as large as that refinance will clear. Pre-commencement conditions have to be dealt with before the development lender will draw, and section 106 and CIL have to fit the appraisal. The other exit is selling the consented site.
What happens if planning permission is refused?
The exit changes. You can appeal, resubmit a revised scheme, or sell the site as it stands, and each takes time the term may not have. The lender is relying on the land value covering its loan without a consent, which is why the advance is held to around 65 to 70%. Know your fallback before you borrow.
How long a term do I need for a planning bridge?
Longer than the planning timetable says, typically 9 to 15 months. A committee date that slips a cycle, a consultee objection or a long section 106 negotiation will all push you past an optimistic term. An extension negotiated under pressure is the expensive way to buy the same time.
Bring us the detail.
Send what you have. We will tell you what is fundable and what needs work before anyone approaches a lender.
Specialist property finance for developers who want the numbers to survive underwriting.
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Fundingwise Limited is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and arranges unregulated finance only. That means lending secured against commercial property, or against residential property that is not, and will not be, occupied by the borrower or an immediate family member as a main residence. We do not advise on or arrange regulated mortgage contracts or regulated bridging loans. Because this finance is unregulated, FCA conduct rules and access to the Financial Ombudsman Service do not apply. Fundingwise Limited is registered in England and Wales, company number 13750788.