A bridging lender advances a percentage of the property value — typically up to 70% to 75% loan to value on a first charge — secured against the property being purchased or another property you own. Interest accrues monthly, commonly between 0.5% and 1.5% per month depending on the loan-to-value, the property type and the strength of the case.
Interest is usually retained or rolled up rather than paid monthly: the lender deducts the expected interest from the advance, or adds it to the balance, so there are no monthly payments to service during the term. The loan plus accrued interest is repaid in one amount at the end — from the sale of a property or a refinance onto longer-term lending.
Because there are no monthly payments, bridging affordability is not assessed like a mortgage. The lender's questions are about the security and the exit: what is the property worth, and how — precisely — will the loan be repaid?
Whether you’re buying at auction, dealing with a broken property chain, or financing a refurbishment, bridging loans provide the speed and flexibility that traditional mortgages often can’t. We help you choose the right short-term funding solution based on your property goals and exit strategy.
A clear exit strategy is one of the most important parts of any bridging loan application. Lenders assess your repayment plan just as carefully as the property's security, making a realistic and well-supported exit essential for approval.
Repay the loan through a property sale or refinancing.
A clear strategy gives lenders greater confidence.
A planned exit can improve speed, rates and approval chances.
Because bridging is asset-and-exit lending rather than income lending, the contractor income questions that complicate standard mortgages largely fall away. A contractor between contracts, in their first year of trading, or with a complex income mix can access bridging on the same terms as anyone else with equivalent security and exit.
Where the exit is a refinance, the contractor income picture returns at the exit stage — and this is where our day-rate lending expertise connects. We arrange the bridge and the contractor-friendly term exit together, so the whole transaction is funded end to end before you commit.
Bridging secured against a property you or your family live in (or intend to live in) is regulated by the FCA, with the consumer protections that brings. Bridging for investment property, business purposes or property you will never occupy is generally unregulated — standard for professional property transactions, but with fewer protections.
As an FCA-authorised broker we advise on both, and we are direct about the distinction: regulated bridging carries stricter affordability and advice requirements, and the lender pool differs between the two. The structure follows the facts of your case, not convenience.
Bridging is more expensive than term lending, and anyone who suggests otherwise is selling. Beyond the monthly interest, expect an arrangement fee of typically 1.5% to 2%, valuation fees, the lender’s legal costs as well as your own, and possibly an exit fee with some lenders. On a £300,000 bridge at 0.85% per month over nine months, the all-in cost can reach £30,000 to £35,000.
The right question is never whether bridging is cheap — it is whether the cost is justified by what it buys: the property secured at auction below market value, the chain saved, the uplift created by the refurbishment. We present the full cost honestly alongside the alternatives, and there are cases where our advice is that bridging is the wrong answer.
