£390,000 Bridging Loan Completed in 7 Days in Northwood — 100% of the Purchase Price
An investor agreed to buy a standard buy-to-let bungalow in Northwood at well below market value — but only if they could complete within days. A2Z Bridging structured a £390,000 unregulated bridging loan in Northwood against the property's £560,000 valuation rather than the price paid, funding 100% of the purchase price at 70% LTV, and completed in 7 days before any notice period was triggered.
Deal Snapshot
The Client Scenario
The client is a property investor who had negotiated the purchase of a standard buy-to-let bungalow in Northwood for £390,000 — against an independent valuation of £560,000. A discount of that size doesn't come without conditions. The vendor wanted a fast, certain completion, and the investor had committed to a deadline measured in days, not weeks.
The deal only worked if the finance matched the timeline. A conventional buy-to-let mortgage would take weeks to underwrite, and the investor did not want to tie up cash they had earmarked for the next acquisition. They needed a bridging loan in Northwood that could fund the entire purchase price quickly, with the exit planned as a refinance onto a term buy-to-let mortgage once the property was let.
The structuring point was simple but critical: most lenders bridge against the lower of purchase price or value. Funding 100% of the purchase price meant finding a lender prepared to lend against the open market value of £560,000 — putting the facility at around 70% LTV on value, rather than 100% on price.
Miss the deadline and the discount was at risk. Once a notice to complete is served, the buyer is on the clock for penalty interest and, ultimately, loss of the deposit and the deal. Completing on time was the whole job.
What Could Have Gone Wrong
A below-market-value purchase on a short deadline is one of the most common ways a bridging deal falls over. The discount that makes the deal attractive is exactly what makes some lenders nervous — and a nervous lender is a slow lender.
On this Northwood case, the specific pressure points were:
The Solution
A2Z placed the case with a lender that lends against open market value on below-market-value purchases, and built the submission around that from the first call — valuation evidence, the reason for the discount, the buy-to-let exit and the investor's position all packaged before the lender had to ask.
The result: a £390,000 unregulated bridging loan funding 100% of the purchase price at 70% LTV against the £560,000 valuation, at 0.9% per month with interest retained over a 12-month term — completed in 7 days, with no notice to complete served.
Buying below market value on a tight deadline?
Discounted purchase, auction win, motivated vendor — we find lenders that bridge against value, not price, and get you completed before the notice lands.
A2Z Bridging Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority · FRN 808769
The Outcome
Found a Deal That Won't Wait for a Mortgage?
Below-market-value purchases, short completion windows, 100% of the price funded against value — this is what bridging is for. Tell us the deadline and we'll structure to it.
A2Z Bridging Ltd · Authorised & Regulated by the FCA · FRN 808769 · We are a broker, not a lender.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — where the property is being bought below market value and the lender is willing to lend against the open market value rather than the price paid. On this Northwood case the client purchased a standard buy-to-let bungalow for £390,000 against a £560,000 valuation, so a £390,000 bridging loan funded 100% of the purchase price while still sitting at only 70% LTV on value. Not every lender works this way; most default to the lower of price or value, which is why lender selection decides whether the deal is possible at all.
This one completed in 7 days from instruction. Speed depends on three things: a lender that can move (with an in-house legal team or panel solicitors who will act fast), a valuation that can be booked immediately, and a fully packaged submission so underwriters aren't sending queries back. A2Z runs valuation and legals in parallel and chases daily — on a tight deadline the broker's job is to remove every reason for anyone to wait.
A bridging loan is unregulated when the property is not, and will not be, occupied by the borrower or their family — in other words, it is a pure investment. This Northwood bungalow was bought as a standard buy-to-let to be rented out, so the facility was an unregulated investment bridge. That matters for speed: unregulated bridging carries fewer procedural steps than a regulated loan on someone's home, which is one of the reasons a 7-day completion was achievable. If the property were to become the borrower's residence, the loan would need to be regulated and the process would look very different.
Retained interest means the interest for the agreed term is deducted from the loan at the start, so the borrower makes no monthly payments during the bridge. On this case, 12 months of interest at 0.9% per month was retained within the £390,000 facility. It suits investors who are letting or refurbishing a property and don't want to service a monthly payment before rental income starts — and if the loan is repaid early, most lenders refund the unused interest. The exit here is a refinance onto a term buy-to-let mortgage once the bungalow is let.