A specialist bridging loan is underwritten from the file, not from a sales call. Professional and corporate borrowers who want a same-day decision in principle still have to put a coherent pack in front of credit. Identity, company papers, source of funds, title, valuation inputs and a named exit all have to line up. Missing one of those items is the usual reason a “fast” facility takes a week.

StatusKWO lends only on an unregulated commercial basis to professional property investors, developers and corporate borrowers. This note is a packaging guide for that audience and for the brokers who submit to it. It is not consumer mortgage advice. Published commercial terms currently show a monthly rate from 1.25%, an entry fee of 2%, an exit fee of 1.5% and a maximum LTV of 85%, with loan sizes from £10,000 to £10,000,000+ and terms of up to 16 months. Those figures sit in the product schedule. They are not a promise that every file prices at the floor.

What a specialist lender needs before a DIP

A Decision in Principle is a documented starting point. It is not a completion promise. Credit can issue one quickly when the enquiry already answers five questions. Who is borrowing. What is being charged. How much is required on a gross and net basis. What the money is for. How the facility will be repaid inside the term.

Our note on how fast you can get a bridging loan covers clocks. This page covers the pack that makes those clocks real. An incomplete DIP request usually comes back as a list of questions rather than a term sheet. That is slower than spending twenty minutes assembling the first email properly.

Write the deal in one page before you attach anything. Property address and title number if known. Purchase price or current value. Loan amount. Term. Use of funds. Exit route with a date. Borrower name and company number if an SPV is used. Name who will give personal guarantees. If the file is an auction lot, put the catalogue deadline and the deposit already paid on that same page. If it is a later development scheme, say so and stop trying to squeeze a build programme into a 16-month bridge without a works schedule.

Unregulated commercial bridging is a perimeter question as well as a packaging one. If the security is or will be the borrower’s main home, the file does not belong here. Read what an unregulated bridging loan is before you submit. StatusKWO does not write FCA consumer credit.

Identity companies and source of funds

Lenders still have to identify the customer and the people who own or control the customer. HMRC’s guidance on customer due diligence under the Money Laundering Regulations is the public baseline. It asks for name, a photograph on an official document, residential address and date of birth. It also requires you to identify beneficial owners where a company, partnership or trust sits in the structure. It also requires a view of the purpose of the relationship and where funds will come from.

For an individual director or guarantor, send a clear copy of a current passport or photocard driving licence and a proof of address dated within three months. Utility bills, council tax and bank statements are the usual set. Cropped selfies and expired documents come back.

For a limited company borrower, send the certificate of incorporation, the current articles, a full list of directors and shareholders and the person-of-significant-control position. Companies House is public. Credit will still want the pack from you so the names on the facility match the names on the charge. If the structure uses more than one SPV, draw it. Do not leave the underwriter to reverse-engineer a group from five PDFs named “scan3”.

Source of funds is where files stall most often after identity. Deposit money, refinance proceeds, director loans and sale receipts all need a trail. A bank statement that shows a round-sum inward payment with no origin note is not a trail. If the cash came from a prior sale, attach the completion statement. If it came from a director, attach the loan account or board minute and the director’s own statements. Overseas funds add time. Say so on page one rather than hoping it is ignored.

Adverse credit is not an automatic decline on unregulated commercial bridging, but unexplained CCJs, defaults and dissolved companies will be asked about. Put a short written explanation in the first pack. Waiting until the solicitor raises it on day four wastes a week.

Security title and valuation evidence

Bridging is asset-led. The security has to be identifiable, chargeable and worth the loan after costs. Start with the address, tenure and a Land Registry title search or an official copy of the register and title plan. Freehold is simpler. Leasehold needs the remaining term, ground rent, any consent-to-charge clause and whether the landlord is in the pack. A short lease that a term lender will not refinance is an exit problem, not a trivia point.

Existing charges must be listed with approximate balances. First-charge bridging against a clear title is one file. A second charge or a cross-charge over other assets is a different file. Do not hide a prior charge because it makes the LTV look cleaner. Credit will find it on the register and then distrust the rest of the pack.

LTV is calculated on the lender’s valuation, not on the borrower’s asking price. Send the last valuation if you have one, the estate agent’s appraisal, comparable sales and, for a purchase, the memorandum of sale or auction catalogue. Photographs help when the asset is tired, mixed-use or part-complete. They do not replace a valuer. StatusKWO’s published maximum LTV is 85%. Many live files sit below that once works, lease term and exit quality are in the number.

Planning and works belong in the security section when they affect value or the exit. A light refurbishment needs a costed schedule. A heavier scheme may belong on development finance with staged drawdowns rather than on a short bridge. Mixing the two in one email is how files bounce between desks.

Commercial and mixed-use security needs more than a house comparable. Tenancy schedule, rent, unexpired term and repairing obligations change the valuation basis. See bridging loans for commercial property for the product mechanics. Put the occupational leases in the pack rather than summarising them from memory.

How to evidence the exit

The exit is the loan. Our exit strategies note still stands. Packaging means attaching proof, not repeating the word “refinance” in the covering email.

A sale exit needs a realistic marketing period, an agent and current asking evidence. A memorandum of sale is stronger than an intention to list. If the asset is empty, say how long it has been empty and what works sit in front of a listing. Soft buyer demand does not kill every sale-led file. It does kill files that assume last year’s asking price and a four-week exchange.

A refinance exit needs a named product type and a reason the term lender will take it at the end of the bridge. An agreement in principle from a term lender is useful when it is current and matches the same security and borrower. An AIP addressed to a different SPV, or based on a value the bridging valuer will not support, is decoration. If the refinance is a portfolio line, send the rent roll and the other assets that will sit in the charge.

A cash exit from probate, a contract note or a business receipt is slower to underwrite because the money is not yet in the borrower’s account. Grant of probate, solicitor correspondence and a timeline beat a verbal “the estate is about to distribute”.

Auction completions are a special case. The catalogue deadline is the term. The pack must already include solicitor details, the legal pack review and the deposit source. Auction finance does not wait for a private-treaty marketing plan to be invented after the hammer.

Give a second exit in one paragraph. It does not have to be as strong as the first. It does have to be a real alternative, not “or we will think of something”.

Gross loan net loan and interest method

Brokers lose days when the amount requested is the amount the client wants in their account. The lender’s offer is often a gross facility after retained interest and fees. Read gross versus net loan before you lock a purchase figure.

State both numbers in the enquiry. Net funds required on completion. Proposed term. Whether interest is retained, rolled up or serviced. StatusKWO’s published entry fee is 2% and the published exit fee is 1.5%. Retained interest on a 12-month term at 1.25% a month is a different gross loan from a 4-month auction bridge. If you only quote one figure, credit will assume gross and the client will assume net. The gap appears on the completion statement.

Use of funds should match those figures. Purchase price, works, SDLT, legal costs and the interest reserve cannot all be paid from a net loan that was sized only to the hammer price. Spell out which items the facility covers and which the borrower is paying from cash.

Common pack errors that stall files

The same mistakes recur. A pack with no title number and no tenure. A company borrower with no PSC list. A director who is not a guarantor and no explanation of why. A valuation from 18 months ago on a refurbishment asset. An exit that names a high-street product the security cannot qualify for. Photographs of the wrong plot. A works cost that is a single round number with no contractor.

Inconsistent names are a legal delay. The DIP, the facility, the charge and the Companies House record have to match. If a director recently changed their name, put the evidence in the pack. If two SPVs are being used, one to buy and one to hold, say which entity is the borrower and which is granting security.

Sending fifty unsorted emails is slower than one zip with a contents list. Name files so a credit analyst can find them. “Passport-JSmith.pdf” beats “IMG_4032”. Put the one-page deal summary first.

Do not treat a DIP as permission to stop gathering papers. Valuation, legal and AML still run after the DIP. The brokers who complete in a few days are the ones who keep collecting while the valuer is on site.

How to send a file to StatusKWO

Start with the decision in principle engine or a one-page enquiry to the desk. Include the address, loan, term, use of funds and exit. Attach identity, company papers, source of funds, title evidence and exit proof in the same submission if you already have them. If a piece is genuinely still in transit, say what it is and when it will arrive.

StatusKWO’s published commercial range is the starting map, not a quote. Monthly rate from 1.25%, entry 2%, exit 1.5%, LTV up to 85%, £10,000 to £10,000,000+, terms up to 16 months. Credit will still price the asset, the borrower and the exit. A clean pack is what gets you a real number rather than another request for documents.

If the live deal is a 28-day auction lot, say so in the subject line. If it is a portfolio reshuffle, say how many titles and which of them are being charged. If it is a bridge into a later build, say where development finance takes over so the file does not sit on the wrong product desk.

Professional borrowers who already have a solicitor should name them on day one. Speed in bridging is mostly legal and valuation. Packaging is how you stop those two workstreams waiting on you.

Frequently asked questions

What documents does a specialist bridging lender need first?

Send a one-page deal summary, identity for individuals and guarantors, company papers and PSC details for an SPV, source-of-funds evidence, title or Land Registry details, existing charge balances and written exit evidence. That set is enough for a Decision in Principle on most unregulated commercial files. Valuation and legal then run in parallel.

Is a Decision in Principle a formal offer?

No. A DIP is an indicative credit view based on the information supplied. It can be withdrawn if the valuation, title or AML position does not match the enquiry. Use it to instruct a solicitor and a valuer, not as a completion guarantee.

Do brokers have to prove income on unregulated commercial bridging?

Asset-led underwriting does not copy a high-street affordability form. Lenders still identify the customer, the beneficial owners and the source of funds under the Money Laundering Regulations. Bank statements, company accounts and an explanation of wealth are still part of a complete pack even when PAYE payslips are not the main test.

How should the loan amount be written in the pack?

State net funds required, proposed term, interest method and a working gross figure that includes retained interest and fees. If you only send one number, the completion statement is where the mismatch appears. Entry and exit fees on StatusKWO’s published terms are 2% and 1.5%.

Can an auction purchase be packaged after the hammer?

It can, and it is a worse file. Catalogue deadline, legal pack, deposit source and solicitor should be in the pack before you bid. Auction finance is a 28-day problem. It is not a private-treaty file with a shorter email chain.