Refinance bridging.
A bridge to refinance a bridge — or any facility that has run out of road. When a loan is expiring before your exit is ready, a refinance bridge buys the time to complete a sale or move onto proper term debt, without a forced sale or a default on your record.
When a refinance bridge is the answer
The common thread is a facility ending before its exit has arrived:
- An expiring bridge. The term is up, the sale or refinance is close but not done, and you need weeks, not a fire sale.
- An expiring development facility. The scheme is built but not all sold or let. This is its own decision — see extend, bridge or refinance.
- A lender withdrawing or re-terming. A term offer pulled at the last moment, or an existing lender changing the terms on renewal.
- Buying time to reposition. Works to finish, a lease to grant, a planning consent to land — anything that will make the asset properly financeable shortly.
It lives or dies on the new exit
A refinance bridge only moves the finish line; it does not remove it. The new lender underwrites the new exit — an evidenced sale, an agreed term facility, completed works that unlock a valuation. Refinancing without a credible new exit is expensive can-kicking, and a good broker will say so before a lender does.
Re-bridging, and why the first exit failed
Re-bridging — a new bridge repaying an old one — is routine, but lenders will ask why the first exit did not happen. A genuine reason (a slower sale, a planning delay, a buyer who withdrew) is fine and fundable. An exit that has quietly disappeared is not, and dressing it up wastes everyone's fees. Bring the real story and we will place it; hide it and diligence will find it.
Refinance FAQs
Can you refinance a bridging loan with another bridge?
Yes — re-bridging is common where the original exit is close but not complete. The new lender underwrites the new exit, and will want to understand why the first one did not happen; a genuine reason such as a slower sale or a planning delay is fundable. Arranged whole of market, typically from 0.69% pm.
My development facility is expiring, what are my options?
Broadly three: extend with the current lender, take an exit bridge to buy selling or letting time, or refinance straight onto a term facility once income is proven. Which is right depends on your exit, not the headline rate. The full framework is on our extend, bridge or refinance page.
Can you refinance if my current lender won't extend?
Usually yes. A lender declining to extend is one of the most common reasons a refinance bridge is arranged, and provided there is a credible exit and enough equity, another lender will often take it on. The sooner it is started before the deadline, the better.
What do you need to arrange a refinance bridge?
The existing facility and its redemption date, the property and its value, and above all the new exit — the evidence of a sale, an agreed term refinance, or the works and consents that will make the asset financeable. That exit is what a lender underwrites.
How quickly can a refinance or re-bridge complete?
Two to three weeks is typical, and faster is realistic on this profile than on almost any other bridging case. Because there is no purchase contract, no searches and no chain, a re-bridge against clean registered title with an automated valuation accepted can complete in days. The most common avoidable delay is waiting on a redemption statement from the outgoing lender, which should be requested at the outset rather than once terms are agreed.
Refinancing turns on the valuation, not the rate
On a refinance the valuation is the whole deal. There is no purchase price to anchor to, so the advance is a percentage of whatever the valuer reports, and a figure below your expectation immediately becomes a cash shortfall you have to fund on a deadline.
Two protections are worth taking. First, establish whether the new lender sizes on market value or on a 90 or 180 day figure, because on commercial security that difference regularly runs to tens of thousands of pounds. Second, give the valuer the evidence at instruction — tenancy schedules, consents, accurate floor areas and genuinely comparable sold prices — because information supplied up front shapes a report in a way that arguing with a draft afterwards does not. 90 and 180 day valuations explained →
How quickly a refinance or re-bridge completes
Two to three weeks is typical, and a re-bridge against property you already own is one of the few profiles where a genuinely fast completion is realistic: there is no purchase contract, no searches and no chain, so where title is clean and registered and an automated valuation is accepted, funds can move in days rather than weeks.
The most common avoidable delay is the redemption statement from the outgoing lender. Request it at the outset, not once terms are agreed. Check whether your deadline is realistic →