Expat borrower secures £240k bridging loan against Surrey buy-to-let

Inspired Lending has completed a £240k bridging loan for a UK national living and working in the United States, secured against a tenanted buy-to-let property in Surrey at 50% LTV.

The 12-month facility served a dual purpose: refinancing the borrower's existing buy-to-let mortgage while releasing additional capital to support business cashflow. With the borrower based overseas and speed of completion a priority, the case was progressed using a desktop valuation backed by an internal property inspection, with documentation signed remotely via DocuSign.

The agreed exit strategy is a refinance of the buy-to-let asset onto a longer-term facility.

"Cases involving overseas borrowers tend to test whether a lender can move beyond a standard process and look at the fundamentals properly," said Gavin Diamond, CEO of Inspired Lending (pictured). 

"In this instance, the asset was stable, the tenancy provided ongoing income, and the exit via refinance was clear, so the focus moved to how quickly that capital could be made available without introducing unnecessary friction."

"What often matters in these situations is not just access to funding, but how that funding is structured around what the borrower is trying to achieve outside of the property itself, particularly where capital is being redeployed into a business. That requires a level of judgement which goes beyond surface level assessment." 

"By keeping the underwriting focused on the strength of the security and the credibility of the exit, we were able to complete efficiently while still maintaining the level of scrutiny you would expect in the current market."

The case required a practical approach to underwriting, weighing the stability of a well-performing tenanted asset against the borrower's need to access capital quickly, while accounting for the added complexity of an overseas income profile. 

For Inspired Lending, the combination of clear security, a credible exit and a defined end use made the case straightforward in principle, even if the borrower's circumstances called for flexibility in execution.