Unregulated bridging finance
Unregulated Bridging Loans Surrey
Investment, BTL and commercial bridges across the KT, GU and RH postcode belts. Decisions in hours, drawdown in days. Guildford, Woking, Weybridge, Redhill, Reigate, Farnham and Camberley.
- Decisions in hours
- Completion in days
- £100k to £25m
- Surrey specialists
Surrey · Surrey
Bridge to your next move.
About unregulated bridging
Short-term property finance across Surrey and the South East England.
Unregulated bridging is the network's core book. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate bridging where the security is investment property, commercial premises, buy-to-let or a refurbishment project, because the borrower is treated as a sophisticated party rather than a consumer. That regime gives the lender and broker room to move at speed. For landlords and property investors operating across Surrey, from the student-let HMO market around the University of Surrey campus in Guildford and Royal Holloway in Egham to the BTL terraced stock across Camberley, Redhill and Farnham, unregulated bridging is the product that pays for the next deal before the last one has stabilised. Surrey is the wealthiest county in the UK per capita and the investor population is correspondingly active across all 11 districts.
Unregulated bridging fits property investors, small developers, established landlords, and limited companies holding property for income or capital appreciation across Surrey. Typical borrowers in this market run portfolios of 3 to 30 BTL units across the GU, KT and RH postcodes, or buy at auction with a refurbishment plan and a refinance route. It also suits owner-managed businesses raising short-term capital against premises around Slyfield Industrial Estate in Guildford, the Brooklands office campus at Weybridge, or the trade estates around Salfords and Redhill. The product is wrong for owner-occupier residential bridging, which sits under the FCA-regulated regime and goes via our regulated route instead.
A typical case
How a unregulated bridging case runs in Surrey.
A limited company landlord with 18 BTL units spread across Camberley, Frimley and the GU15 to GU17 postcodes spots an HMO opportunity in Guildford: an end-of-terrace freehold off Stoughton Road, vendor motivated, asking £625,000 against a likely £760,000 fully refurbished and licensed as a six-bed sui-generis HMO for University of Surrey students and graduates. The deal needs to complete in 6 weeks or the vendor walks. The landlord has equity in the existing portfolio but no liquid cash for the deposit and works. We package an unregulated bridge against the Guildford property at 70% of purchase price, with a separate facility releasing additional funds against an unencumbered terrace in Camberley. Total facility £580,000 across two charges. Term 12 months, serviced interest, exit to a portfolio HMO BTL refinance. **Octane Capital** and **LendInvest** both quote inside the day; the lead lender comes back at 0.95% per month with a clean works profile. Indicative terms in 24 hours, valuation in 8 working days, completion 14 working days after instruction. The borrower completes inside the vendor's window, runs the HMO conversion across four months, lets the rooms, and refinances out at month 9. This pattern repeats weekly across Guildford, Egham, Woking and the wider South East England commuter belt.
Rates and fees
What this product costs.
Unregulated bridging in the current Surrey market prices between 0.65% and 1.25% per month. Standard investment cases on freehold residential security at 65% loan to value, with a clear refinance exit and a borrower track record, sit at the lower end of that band. Higher loan to value, shorter track record, less liquid security or weaker exit pushes the rate up. Heavy refurbishment and conversion work generally prices above 1.0% per month. The arrangement fee runs 1.5% to 2.0% of the loan, added to the facility. Valuation fees vary by property type: a standard terrace in GU2 might cost £700, a commercial mixed-use block in central Woking closer to £3,000. Legal fees both sides are borrower-paid, typically £1,500 to £4,000 per side. Most unregulated products carry no exit fee. We never quote a case as fee-free.
Loan size and term
LTV ceiling and how long you borrow for.
Maximum loan to value on standard unregulated investment bridging is 75% against open market value, with most cases settling at 65% to 70%. Day-one loan to purchase can be higher where the property is materially below market value, often up to 85% of the purchase price if the open market valuation supports it. Terms run from 1 month to 24 months. Most clients use a 9 to 12-month facility for refurbishment and refinance, or a 3 to 6-month facility for straightforward purchase and resale across the Surrey BTL market.
Exit options
How the loan redeems.
Unregulated bridging has four main exit routes. First, refinance to a long-term BTL mortgage once the property is let and seasoned. Second, refinance to a commercial investment mortgage for mixed-use or pure commercial security. Third, sale on the open market, particularly where the borrower has refurbished and intends to flip. Fourth, sale of an associated asset such as another property in the portfolio. Lenders want a credible primary exit and a credible backup. A borrower whose only exit is a refinance with one named lender on contingent income looks weaker than a borrower with a refinance lined up plus a saleable backup property in central Guildford or Reigate.
What makes a deal work
The clean cases.
Clean cases run on three things: realistic valuation, credible exit, and a borrower with a coherent track record. A landlord with 8 stabilised BTLs across the GU and RH postcodes, a 70% LTV against a Redhill terrace, and a portfolio refinance offer already on the table is the textbook clean case. Cases also strengthen where the security sits in a liquid Surrey postcode with strong rental demand, where the construction is conventional, and where the borrower has skin in the game. Limited company SPV structures with clear shareholding work well; partnerships work less well unless the partners are joint borrowers.
What doesn't
Where cases break.
Cases fail where the borrower has no track record and no clear exit, where the property is in a thin or atypical micro-market, where construction is non-standard, or where the refurbishment scope is materially understated. Auction valuations that overshoot independent comparables also kill cases at the survey stage. We will not progress a case where the maths require everything to go right; we want headroom on the exit, particularly above the £2 million loan size where the buyer pool thins.
Our process
From first call to drawdown.
Step one, a 20-minute call with us. Bring the property, the deal, the equity, the exit, and the timeline. Step two, we package the case and put it to three or four lenders depending on the brief. Indicative terms back inside 24 hours. Step three, valuation instructed alongside legals. Step four, full credit at the lender, typically 3 to 5 working days. Step five, drawdown into the borrower's solicitor, with funds released on completion of the purchase or refinance. Standard timeline from triage to drawdown is 10 to 21 working days. Auction-driven cases compress that to 5 to 10 working days using title insurance and a streamlined valuation. Unregulated bridging on commercial and investment property is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are not directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority; we work with FCA-authorised partners for regulated lending.
Talk to us
Tell us about the deal.
A quick triage call, then indicative lender terms inside 24 hours. We work Surrey and across Surrey.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions on unregulated bridging
What's the difference between regulated and unregulated bridging?
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Regulated bridging is FCA-supervised consumer lending against a home you or an immediate family member occupy. Unregulated bridging is non-consumer lending against investment, commercial or BTL property. The regulated regime is slower because of FCA process requirements; the unregulated regime is faster and more flexible because the borrower is treated as a sophisticated party. Most of our Surrey investor clients sit in the unregulated regime.
Can I bridge a limited company purchase in Surrey?
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Yes. Limited company SPV structures are standard on unregulated bridging across the KT, GU and RH belts. The lender takes a first charge against the property and a debenture against the company. Personal guarantees from the directors are standard, and we negotiate the cap on guarantees case by case. Most of our Surrey investor clients hold property through limited companies for tax efficiency, and lenders are well used to that structure.
Can unregulated bridging fund refurbishment works as well as the purchase?
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Yes. Most unregulated bridges include a works facility that draws down in stages against work completed and signed off by the lender's monitoring surveyor. For light refurb across Camberley, Redhill or Farnham, the works facility is often released in two or three tranches. For heavy HMO conversion work around the University of Surrey catchment in Stoughton Road or the Royal Holloway catchment in Egham, expect a more structured drawdown over four or five stages.
Next step
Talk to a Surrey bridging specialist about unregulated bridging.
Indicative terms in 24 hours. We work unregulated bridging cases across Surrey and the wider Surrey market on a same-day enquiry response.