A private developer, whose latest project involved the conversion of a large mid terraced self-owned property into eight self-contained units, required additional funding to complete the project mid-construction.
Client: Private developer
Project: Conversion of single property into eight self-contained units
The property in Sutton, Surrey has been under the ownership of the client for some time and plans approved to remodel the large building into individual living units.
The owner approached Bridging Finance Solutions part way through the construction requiring additional funds to complete the project and ultimately refinance the property. Upon completion, the units will be secured under a buy to let mortgage and form part of the client’s future pension income.
An effective partnership was formed with the client from the outset. A highly qualified and skilled Quantity Surveyor and Structural Engineer, the client had worked for a number of major blue chip companies in the building industry and therefore had a keen understanding of the wider process.
An initial advance payment of £275,000 was made, with further drawdowns taking the total to £563,750, which will cover 100% of the remaining works on the site with no cash input from the client.
John Hardman, Head of Sales at Bridging Finance Solutions worked with the client on the case due to a number of unusual factors. He explained: “A grant was initially provided by the local council to commence work partly due to the exceptionally high demand in the area. We had to tread carefully and ensure the terms of the grant were not breached by us, potentially placing a charge on the site which could have meant the client had to repay – thankfully we had no such issues.”
“Many lenders have limited appetite to take over a development part way through as potential problems can occur in terms of providing retrospective warranties and paperwork etc. The key to the success of this deal was the huge amount of information provided at the front end by the client. His attention to detail was immense and it made the process of picking up the project part way through much easier than I have seen historically.”
From initial contact by the client, it was clear that he had exhausted most other means of traditional financing and he was delighted to identify a lender that would take the time to immerse itself in the project just as he had done.
BFS pride themselves on fully understanding both the client AND the transaction, this enables a relationship of trust to develop and meant they could deliver funds at a critical phase of the development, on time, and give the client peace of mind that he has 100% of the costs to finish it.
