Deal Highlights

• £1.89m gross bridging facility at 70% of the 180-day value over 12 months.
• Newly refurbished three-bedroom mews house in Marylebone valued at £3m.
• Development exit loan repaying the incumbent development lender in full while the property is marketed.
• Property let on flexible short-stay agreements rather than an AST, ruling out most term lenders.
• Prime central London stock listed for sale with a leading agent at £3.25m.
• Interest retained for the full term, so no servicing burden during the marketing period.
• First legal charge with a clear exit via open-market sale within the term.

The Challenge

Development exits are a recurring gap in the market: the works are finished, the development lender wants repaying, and the borrower needs time to sell without being forced into a discount. Here, an experienced London developer had completed a full refurbishment of a mews house in Marylebone and listed it at £3.25m, but the incumbent development facility was due for redemption before a sale could complete.

The asset itself carried features that conventional lenders decline. The property was let on flexible short-stay agreements managed by a third-party operator rather than an assured shorthold tenancy, which removes most buy-to-let and term lenders from the table. Prime central London prices had also been softening, with marketing periods for higher-value stock stretching well beyond the area average — so the facility had to be sized and structured to give the sale room to run.

The Outcome

Berkeley Credit provided a £1.89m gross bridging loan. Anchoring leverage to the more conservative figure protected the position for both sides: the borrower retains headroom to re-bridge with another lender on open-market terms if the sale takes longer than planned.

The facility was written over a maximum 12-month term with a three-month minimum, and interest was retained for the full term so the borrower carries no servicing obligation while the property is on the market. The loan repaid the development lender in full, with the shortfall covered by the borrower, and the exit is an open-market sale through the appointed agent — with refinance as a credible fallback given the discount already built into the day-one leverage.