UTB provides £2.45m bridge for family home

UTB provides £2.45m bridge for family home




United Trust Bank (UTB) has provided a £2.45m bridging loan at 55% LTV for borrowers who were in the process of purchasing a larger family home.

The purchase price for the property was around £3.7m and the application seemed straightforward until complications arose when underwriting revealed several issues affecting the properties offered as security.

The house the borrowers wanted to purchase was closer to their children’s school, but several other parties were interested in buying the property.

This meant the clients had little time in which to sell their existing home before purchasing and with help from a broker, a classic bridge was seen as the best option.

The borrowers existing home was valued at £1.85m and had an outstanding mortgage of £650,000 secured against it. 

UTB agreed to provide the facility by taking a second charge on the existing family home and a first charge on the new property.

The broker was able to provide evidence that the borrowers could repay the bridge. 

This would be achieved through the sale of the existing home and a £750,000 mortgage on their new home as well as around £500,000 from the refinancing of their lowly geared buy-to-let portfolio. 

The deal became complicated when during the underwriting process various legal issues arose.

“We needed to deal with queries relating to both security properties involving partly unregistered land, inadequate rights of access and a lack of planning consent,” said Gavin Diamond, commercial director of bridging at UTB.

“Each of these issues presented unique challenges which could not have been reasonably foreseen at the outset and which needed to be overcome before the bridging loan could be completed. 

“The bridging team worked closely with the bank’s solicitors and valuers to understand and address each of them within a tight timescale.”

With UTB happy that both properties provided acceptable security for the loan, the purchase was completed allowing the family to move into their new home.

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