Case study

Residential Bridging Exit

How a client refinanced off a residential bridging loan and cleared a £500,000 balance in just 10 days, days before the term expired.

Case study

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In short

We refinanced a client off a residential bridging loan and cleared a £500,000 balance in 10 days, 3 days before the bridging term expired.

The application reached a formal offer within 3 days and completed in 10 days, against a bridging facility due to expire at the end of the month.

Our client came to us last-minute needing a refinance off an existing residential bridging loan, with the facility due to expire at the end of the month. With no time to lose, the case needed to move from application to completion inside a hard deadline.

We took the application from submission to completion in 10 days, clearing the £500,000 existing balance just 3 days before the bridging term expired.

Deal snapshot

Case overview
DetailSummary
Property typeResidential
Existing balance cleared£500,000
TriggerBridging facility expiring at month-end
Application to offer3 days
Application to completion10 days
Margin before term expiry3 days

The scenario

Our client approached us needing to refinance off their existing residential bridging facility, which was due to expire at the end of the month. Letting a bridging term run out without an exit in place can mean reverting to a lender's default rate or facing further charges, so the case needed to move at speed from the outset.

The challenges

A Hard Expiry Deadline

The bridging facility was due to run out at the end of the month, leaving a narrow window to secure and complete a refinance before the term lapsed.

Late Notice

The client approached us last-minute, which meant the entire process, application, offer, and completion, had to be compressed into the time remaining before expiry.

No Room for Delay in Underwriting

With the deadline fixed, any slippage in valuation, underwriting, or legal work risked pushing completion past the point where the existing facility would lapse.

The solution

We moved quickly to place the case with a lender able to turn around a residential remortgage at pace, submitting the application straight away. The case reached formal offer within 3 days, keeping the timeline firmly on track for completion before the bridging term expired. From there, we kept the legal and underwriting process moving so nothing held up completion in the days that remained, the kind of coordination that residential bridging finance exits often need when the clock is already running.

The outcome

Completion took place 10 days after the application, just 3 days before the client's existing bridging facility would have expired. The £500,000 balance was cleared in full, with the client moved onto their new facility before any risk of reverting to the bridging lender's default terms.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if a bridging loan isn't refinanced before the term ends?

Depending on the lender, letting a bridging term expire without an exit in place can mean reverting to a default rate, or facing additional fees and charges. Arranging the exit — whether a sale or a residential bridging refinance — well before the expiry date avoids that risk.

How quickly can a residential remortgage complete when a bridging term is about to expire?

It depends on the lender and how much preparation work can be done upfront, but a case can move considerably faster than a standard remortgage when there's a fixed deadline to work to. In this case, the process ran from application to completion in 10 days.

About the author

Joseph Lane CeMAP is an expert bridging finance broker

Founder, CEO

Calls and emails here go to Joseph personally, not to a general inbox.

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+44 7487 829005joe@mortgagelane.comMore about Joseph

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