Ask any bridging lender how quickly they can complete and you will hear the same answer. Fast. Days, not weeks. The trouble is that the word has stopped meaning anything, and your client is the one who finds out the hard way when a deadline passes.
The honest answer is that speed is not a property of the lender alone. It is the product of four or five moving parts, only some of which the lender controls, and a broker who understands them can give a client a date that holds.
What “fast” actually means
When a lender quotes a completion time, it is worth asking what clock they are starting. Some count from the day funds are released against a clean, agreed deal. Others count from first enquiry. The gap between the two can be a fortnight.
As a working guide, a straightforward bridge on a single residential investment property, with a clean title and a borrower who has their paperwork ready, can complete in around five to seven working days. A more complex deal, with multiple securities, a commercial element or a title that needs tidying up, will typically run to two to four weeks.
Fast is not a promise a lender makes. It is an outcome the whole chain has to earn.
Anything quoted as 48 or 72 hours is usually describing the decision, not the completion. A quick decision matters, but it is only the first step.
The five things that actually set the pace
1. The valuation. On most bridges this is the single biggest variable. Instructing an external surveyor means waiting for availability, an inspection date and a written report, and that alone can take a week or more. A lender who values in-house removes the queue and can usually form a view on the security within a day or two of receiving the deal.
2. The legal work. Title checks, searches, undertakings and the back-and-forth between two sets of solicitors account for most of the elapsed time on any completion. A clean registered title with no unusual restrictions moves quickly. Unregistered land, leasehold with a slow freeholder, or a title that needs an indemnity policy does not. Dual representation, where one firm acts for both lender and borrower, takes a whole round of correspondence out of the process.
3. The exit. A lender has to be comfortable with how they are repaid before they commit. A sale with an agreed buyer or a refinance with a decision in principle in hand is quick to assess. An exit that is still an idea will slow the credit decision and often the terms too.
4. The borrower’s paperwork. ID, proof of address, source of deposit, company documents, details of existing charges and a schedule of works where there is one. None of this is difficult, but every missing item is a day lost waiting for it.
5. How the lender is funded. A privately funded lender decides with their own money and does not need to clear a deal with a credit committee, a funding line or a third party. That is what allows a same-day view and a decision that does not change later.
Where deals really slow down
In our experience the delays rarely come from the lender’s decision. They come from the gaps between the parties. The most common ones we see are:
- A borrower’s solicitor who does not do much bridging work and treats the file like a 12-week purchase
- A valuation instructed late, or re-instructed because the first one did not fit the lender’s criteria
- Second-charge consents, where the first-charge lender takes weeks to respond
- Source-of-funds queries that could have been answered up front
- A change to the deal halfway through, such as a different security or loan amount, which restarts the legal work
Most of these are avoidable, and all of them are easier to manage when the lender flags them on day one rather than day ten.
How to give your client a realistic answer
The broker who looks best at completion is rarely the one who promised the fastest date. It is the one whose date held. Three habits make that far more likely.
Ask the lender what they are counting. Get them to break their timescale into decision, valuation, legals and release, and ask which of those they control. A lender who values in-house and funds privately can commit to the first two. Nobody can promise the legals without knowing the title.
Get the borrower’s solicitor lined up before terms are issued. Ideally one who completes bridging regularly, and who will accept dual representation where the lender offers it. This is the single biggest time saving available on most deals.
Send the full picture first time. Security, exit, borrower background and existing charges, together. A lender can then tell you on day one whether there is a title problem or a consent to chase, and you can build that into the date you give your client.
Then quote a range, not a day. “Seven to ten working days, assuming the title is clean” is an answer a client can plan around. “Five days” is a hostage to fortune.
How we approach it at HBI
We value in-house, we fund privately and we offer dual representation where it helps. That is how we are able to release funds in as little as five to seven days on the right deal, and why we would rather tell you on day one if yours is not going to be one of them.
What we will not do is quote a date we cannot hold. On most enquiries received before mid-afternoon you will have a view the same day, from the principal who will see the deal through to completion. From there, the date we give you is one you can pass straight on to your client.
We give brokers a straight answer, usually the same day, with in-house valuations and terms built around the exit.
John leads HBI Capital’s lending and is involved in every decision the business makes, and writes here on bridging, development finance and how brokers can move deals faster.