SUMMARY
Buying at auction is fast and final. Arrange indicative funding before you bid so you can meet the 28-day completion deadline with confidence.
Buying at auction is fast and final. When the hammer comes down, you are committed. You exchange there and then, pay your deposit on the day, and you have 28 days to complete. A conventional mortgage rarely moves at that speed, which is why experienced buyers use short-term bridging finance and arrange it before they bid rather than after.
What you get from us before the sale is indicative confirmation, not a formal offer. We look at the lot and the legal pack, tell you whether we would lend against it, and on what basis. You then bid knowing you have a backer to hand rather than hoping to find one inside a four-week deadline.
Find your lots and do the work. Identify what you want, view it, and be clear on what the property is worth once you have spent what the project needs.
Send it to us before the auction. Give us the property details and the legal pack, and tell us what you expect to pay.
We review and confirm indicatively. We go through the legal pack and the property looking for anything that looks out of place. If we are comfortable, we confirm indicatively that we would support the purchase.
Bid. When the gavel falls you exchange, pay your 10% deposit on the day, and the 28-day clock starts.
Come back with the price paid. We take payment for the valuation, instruct it, and run the legals to complete inside the deadline.
We are happy to look at lots from any of the main auction houses, including Savills, Allsop, Clive Emson, Auction House and Barnard Marcus.
In June 2026 we completed an auction purchase of a multi-unit freehold block of six flats bought from Allsop. The purchase price was £380,000 and we lent £266,000, 70% of the purchase price, at 0.84% per month with a 1% arrangement fee. The client intends to spend £150,000 on the refurbishment.
The borrower was an experienced operator who already owned ten other assets in the same location. The plan was a light refurbishment and hold within the existing portfolio rather than a sale.
The exit is a refinance.
Across the market, a bridging loan generally takes 5 to 20 working days from application to drawdown. On a straightforward short-term facility we aim to draw funds within 5 to 10 working days, which sits comfortably inside a 28-day auction deadline.
Timing depends mainly on solicitors and on the valuation report coming back. The earlier you bring the deal to us, the more of that work is already done when you win. We will not tell you every deal completes in five days, because it does not.
Maximum loan to value: 75% against the auction purchase price, on residential stock and up to 65% LTV on commercial stock.
Rate: from 0.84% per month, subject to valuation and underwriting.
Term: short-term, typically up to 24 months.
Fees: 1% arrangement fee, plus valuation and legal costs.
Deposit: 10% is payable to the auction house on the day, from your own funds.
We are not built for volume. You deal with one person from first enquiry through to redemption, which means the person who reviewed your legal pack before the auction is the same person driving your completion afterwards.
“It’s cradle to grave lending. And what marks us out is you deal with one person throughout the transaction.”
We will not always be the cheapest. We lay out the terms, we adhere to the terms, we do not amend the terms. On an auction purchase, where you are already committed the moment the hammer falls, terms that do not move partway through matter more than a headline rate.
The property: what it is, where it is, and the guide or expected purchase price.
The legal pack for the lot.
Your plan for the property: refurbish, refinance or sell.
Your exit, and when it happens.
Your track record on similar projects.
Not in the formal sense, and you should be wary of anyone who tells you otherwise. What we give is indicative confirmation. Send us the property details and the legal pack ahead of the sale and we will tell you whether we would lend and on what basis, so you can bid knowing you have funding behind you. The formal offer follows once we know the price paid and the valuation is in.
Short-term bridging is built for it. The 10% deposit is paid on the day of the auction and the balance completes within the period set by the contract, driven by the valuation and the legal work.
How much can I borrow against an auction purchase?
Up to 75% of the purchase price, subject to valuation and underwriting.
Is auction bridging regulated?
We lend on an unregulated basis to property investors, traders and developers for business purposes only. We do not lend on owner-occupied property or where the intention is for the borrower or an immediate family member to reside in the property now or in the future.
