Client
A privately-owned property company, with a portfolio of residential investment properties in London, valued at more than £10 million, which has been established for more than 30 years.

The company understands the London private rental market and how to use short-term property finance to increase its portfolio through strategic purchases.

Issue
A deal was in place to raise capital against a London property owned by the company, to facilitate the purchase of a further property, which would then be refinanced onto a buy-to-let mortgage.

However, although the high-street lender was processing the company’s funding application, it only became apparent at the eleventh hour that they would be unable to complete within the required timescale, with the new acquisition falling through.

Solution
Fortunately for the property company in question, the finance broker approached for a solution was aware of Signature Private Finance and our ability to react quickly when needed.

The demands of this case would emphasise our key strengths; a genuine understanding of every aspect of property development, not just the numbers on a spreadsheet and the fact all lending decisions are made in-house by our experienced team, to help speed up the process.

A loan term of just 3 months was required as both the client and their broker were confident that the refinancing would be achieved within this period, as the property was already owned by the company.

Although we had only 72 hours in which to act, we still had to undertake a valuation of the property, assess the other properties offered as security, undertake investigations, facilitate the necessary legal work and release the funds.

As an experienced property developer, all the necessary paperwork and credit checks were available quickly and passed with flying colours to ensure our decision to lend was an easy one.

Conclusion
Dealing direct with a business-like Signature Private Finance, which makes all lending decisions in-house, considerably reduced the time taken for funding to be made available.

The property company was able to make the deal in time, thanks in the first place to the quick thinking and understanding of the situation by the finance broker, who was not prepared to let the deal die.

On this occasion, a lot of favourable factors combined with our experience and desire to lend, rather than find reasons to disappoint, to ensure the deal completed within the three-day deadline.

This will not always be the case and for the majority of more complicated property finance cases, we will typically need more than three days.

Highlights

  • Experienced property developer and residential landlord
  • Expanding low-geared portfolio
  • Property in good condition in very good location
  • Reasonable development plans and viable exit strategy
  • Ridiculous and ambitious three-day deadline achieved

Client Quote
I am delighted that we managed to complete within 3 days and the fact the valuer was at the property and solicitors instructed within an hour was very impressive. I will certainly be recommending Signature again as they delivered everything they promised.

Broker Quote
I have to say that I am so impressed – everyone has been amazing and we all deserve a pat on the back. Wouldn’t have trusted anyone else on this.