Bridging & Property Finance Guides
Plain-English guides to UK bridging finance, development finance, mortgages and international property lending. Written from a broker's seat, updated for the 2026 market.
Every guide below is written by the brokers who actually place cases, not by marketers. They cover what borrowers genuinely need to know before taking a loan: the products, the costs, the criteria, the process, and the mistakes that catch first-time borrowers out.
Bridging guides
The Complete Guide to Bridging Loans in the UK (2026)
A definitive, in-depth guide to bridging finance in the UK. Written for property professionals, developers, investors and homeowners who want to understand the product before they take it.
Read the guide →Bridging vs Mortgage - When to Use Each
A clear decision guide for choosing between a bridging loan and a standard mortgage. Costs, speed, flexibility, and the scenarios where each is the right answer.
Read the guide →How Bridging Loan Exit Strategies Work
The exit strategy is the most-overlooked, most-important part of a bridging loan. A complete guide to how exits actually work, how lenders test them, and how to make yours fly.
Read the guide →First-Time Bridging Borrower's Checklist
A practical, no-nonsense checklist for borrowers taking out a bridging loan for the first time. What to prepare, what to ask, what to watch for and how to avoid the common traps.
Read the guide →Development guides
Complete Guide to Development Finance in the UK
Everything experienced and first-time UK developers need to understand about senior debt, mezzanine, JV equity, drawdown cycles, monitoring surveyors and exits. Updated for 2026 market conditions.
Read the guide →How LTGDV Works - Development Finance Explained
Loan-to-Gross-Development-Value is the dominant leverage metric on UK development finance. This guide walks through how it works, how it interacts with LTC, and how to use both to maximise leverage on your scheme.
Read the guide →Development Finance vs Bridging - Which to Use?
Both are short-term, both fund property, both come from specialist lenders. But the structure, leverage maths, drawdown mechanics and lender panel are fundamentally different. This guide walks through when to use which.
Read the guide →How to Prepare a Development Finance Application
What lenders actually need to see, in what format, in what order. The application pack walkthrough that gets indicative terms back in 24-48 hours instead of two weeks.
Read the guide →Mortgages guides
The portfolio landlord mortgage guide
Everything a UK landlord with four or more mortgaged buy to let properties needs to understand about PRA portfolio rules, lender appetite, Ltd Co structures, stress tests and refinancing strategy.
Read the guide →The private bank mortgage guide
How private bank mortgages work in the UK - which banks lend, how they underwrite, when they are the right answer and when they are not, and what assets-under-management actually means in practice.
Read the guide →The complex income mortgage guide
A detailed look at how UK lenders treat self-employed, partnership, dividend, bonus, RSU, carried interest and multi-currency income, and how to find the lender whose policy actually fits your income shape.
Read the guide →The commercial mortgage guide
How commercial mortgages work in the UK. Owner-occupier vs investment underwriting, ICR explained, lender categories, use class restrictions, term and amortisation choices, and how to structure the right deal for the asset.
Read the guide →Got a question a guide does not answer?
Send the scenario and we will come back the same working day with indicative terms, a lender shortlist, and a realistic timeline. No upfront fees on loans over £1m.