Auction Holiday Let

Auction bridging loan: holiday let purchase, offer in 15 days

Our client won a rural property in Leicestershire at auction for £152,145, well below its £250,000 market value, with plans to bring it forward as a future holiday let. Auction contracts don’t leave room for delay, so the funding needed to move at the same pace as the purchase.

We secured £163,856 in bridging finance, covering both the purchase and onward preparation costs, and reached formal offer in just 15 days from submission.

The scenario

Our client won the property at auction for £152,145, against a market value of £250,000, a substantial discount typical of the auction route, but one that still needed fast, certain finance to meet the auction completion deadline. The plan was to prepare the property and bring it to market as a holiday let once works were complete.

The challenges

1. Non-negotiable completion deadline. As with any auction purchase, the completion date was fixed. Missing it risked losing the deposit and the property, so the finance needed to be arranged and ready inside a tight window.
2. A purchase price well below market value. Securing the property at a substantial discount to its market value meant the lender needed comfort that the price reflected a genuine auction outcome, not an issue with the property itself.
3. Funding purchase and preparation together. The client needed more than a straightforward purchase bridge: the facility had to cover both the acquisition and the costs of preparing the property for its intended use.
4. No trading history. As the property wasn’t yet operating as a holiday let, the case needed to be assessed on its intended future use rather than existing income, which not every lender is set up to do.

The solution

We arranged a net bridging loan of £163,856, structured to cover both the purchase and the costs of preparing the property, with the client’s intention to bring it forward as a holiday let once works were complete. Submitted on the 1st of the month, the case moved through underwriting at the pace the auction deadline demanded.

The outcome

The application reached formal offer within 15 days of submission, a turnaround built around the certainty an auction purchase demands, where the completion date is fixed and non-negotiable.

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