Regulated bridging finance for hard-to-mortgage construction type in Cornwall

Non-standard construction can be a warning flag when you’re considering buying property, and can also rear its head years later. But many of these are sound, serviceable homes that are excellent value for buyers, or they have a historic character or quirky charm that will always find a discerning purchaser. And lenders can be found for them.  

The Scenario

This was a downsizing scenario to build a lifestyle dream home.  

Our client needed the remaining £30K to buy a plot of land with a barn that she and her husband planned to rebuild as their home.

She owned her house outright, so she was looking for a straightforward first-charge bridge.

The problem was that her house was a “Cornish Unit” – a style of prefabricated housing popularised in Cornwall in the 1950s, with steel reinforced frames, concrete panels and attractive Mansard roofs.

Over the years, structural problems have been identified with this style of house-build, resulting from water damage to the steel frames. There are also issues relating to the “mundic block” construction: concrete made with aggregate from the locally-named “mundic” (mining waste) is now found to be deteriorating due to the minerals in the aggregate.

The Solution

Our priority was to find a lender willing to consider Cornish Units. The financer we identified put a valuation of £230K on the property via their online valuation, which gave our client a very manageable LTV of under20%.

The lender offered a rock-bottom rate for this regulated loan. Our borrower also kept costs down by using the same solicitor, so the regulated bridging loan was successfully arranged with minimal fees within three weeks.

In a similar situation? Call our bridging loan team on 0117 959 5094 or use our bridging loan calculator to get an indicative quote