Finish and exit for £1.95M barn development

The Scenario

Our clients are an older couple, with development experience, but not professional developers: they use their own finance, working in their own names, and enjoy doing bespoke builds to a high standard.

This project was a derelict barn they were rebuilding as a very desirable four-bed residence with a projected GDV of £1.95M.

But project overruns and complications to do with planning meant they’d run out of time on their original finance. The clients had approached another lender for finish and exit finance: a survey had been done and they were already involved in the legals when that lender pulled out.  

So now time was tight. And we were running into Christmas.

The build was wind and watertight – our clients needed £350K to repay the original lender, and £180K for the second-fix, interior fit-out and landscaping (with an exit to sale).

The Solution

We took the deal to a specialist bridging lender we have a close working relationship with, who could be more flexible than a more process-orientated development finance lender.

The valuer used just a month previously was also on this lender’s panel of surveyors, so they were prepared to accept a "retype" of the survey report at a saving of £2,500 to our clients.

Nonetheless, this was a complicated deal to hold together. Getting it finalised in just under five working weeks was a triumph, and 0.99% per month over 10 months was a very manageable rate.