What is development finance?
A Development Finance Loan is a secured lending facility that helps you bring your property development plans to life. This can be used to support a brand new development, a conversion or a comprehensive refurbishment. Development Loans are generally offered on a short term basis of up to two years in length. They are often sought where a business has a project that they would like to undertake, but are unable to gain finance from a mainstream bank until the construction is within the completion stages.
Development Loans are often turned around in very short timescales, allowing you to get your project underway as quickly as possible. Timescales can be as quickly as seven to ten working days, dependent on acting solicitors and availability of the surveyors. The funder will have a number of surveyors on their panel, increasing the turnaround speed.
The assets accepted as security are generally the land of the proposed build, together with additional security such as buildings. This may be required in order to gain the maximum funding available for your project. There would be a valuation required in order to ascertain the true market value of the land/asset, together with a value for lending purposes. The costs of the valuation will be covered by your business in full. The valuation must be completed by a Surveyor from the funder’s approved panel.
Once the valuation of the land/asset has been completed, the lender would look to take a legal charge over the asset(s) before the funds are released. The maximum LTC (Loan to Cost of development) usually advanced against the valuation for lending purposes is 65%.
How much can we borrow?
Typically between £150,000 and £5M (higher or lower values will be considered).
What term can I take the loan over?
Between 6 months and 24 months.
How do we repay the loan?
With a Development Finance Loan you will pay interest on the outstanding value each month and then repay the loan in full at the end of the term. Most development funders will also allow interest to be rolled on to the point of final repayment if cash flow is tight throughout the loan term.
What security will be required?
- A legal charge will be taken over the land/asset prior to the release of funds
- Personal guarantees may be required
What do we need to qualify?
- No legal notices or insolvency proceedings
- Defaults must be over two years old and not more than £1,000 in value, or a reasonable explanation must be provided
- Be a registered business within the UK
- Assessment by the lender to confirm a solid financial standing
- Confirmation of appropriate expertise within the sector
- UK bank account
What will we need to provide?
Firstly, the online application will need to be completed. Once this has been done, you will need to send the following information to [email protected]
- The last full set of financial accounts
- Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss
- Draft accounts (if the full year end accounts are over 12 months old)
- All Directors to complete an asset and liability statement (Click to open and save form)
- Outline or Detailed Planning Consent
- Architectural Plans
- A detailed development summary form will need to be complete (Click to open and save form)
Important Information
- Please note that some lenders may request projections, we will advise if these are required
- Your application will not be processed until we have received all of the requested information above