A three-way county that moves at three speeds
Sussex is not a single market. The historic county splits three ways at the administrative level: Brighton and Hove as a unitary authority on the central coast, East Sussex County Council running the eastern half from Lewes through to Rye, and West Sussex County Council carrying everything from Chichester to Crawley. Each of those three administrations runs its own planning regime, its own economic mix and its own bridging rhythm. The deal flow on a Brighton HMO conversion looks nothing like a Rye holiday-let acquisition, and a Crawley dev-exit case sits at the opposite end of the book from a Lewes listed-building refurbishment. The job of a Sussex bridging desk is to know which clock each case runs against and to package the answer accordingly.
This page is a working briefing rather than a brochure. It is written for the people who already know roughly what a bridge is and who want to know how the Sussex market is behaving in 2026, which lenders are pricing each segment, and what a deal actually looks like when it crosses our desk. We cover the geography and the administrative split, the four sector clusters where Sussex has its sharpest edges, the lender panel we work with, five recent deal flavours we see month after month, and a forward look into 2027. Read it end to end if you have fifteen minutes, or skip to the section that maps to the case in front of you. Either way, when you want to talk a deal through, the contact details sit at the foot of every page on this site.
Sussex in the South East economy
Sussex sits across the southern edge of the South East region, running roughly 90 miles from the Kent border at Camber Sands in the east to the Hampshire border at Emsworth Harbour in the west, and around 30 miles north-south from the South Downs to the Surrey commuter belt. The historic county had a single shire identity for most of its history but split for local-government purposes in 1888, with East Sussex and West Sussex established as separate counties. Brighton and Hove was carved out as a unitary authority in 1997, leaving the modern map at three administrative blocks: Brighton and Hove with around 280,000 residents, East Sussex County Council with around 555,000 residents across five districts, and West Sussex County Council with around 875,000 residents across seven districts. The county-wide population sits at roughly 1.71 million, making Sussex one of the largest county-level economies in the South East outside of London and Surrey.
The transport spine that defines bridging deal flow across the county is the A23 and M23 corridor running north from the Brighton seafront through Crawley to Gatwick Airport and the M25. The A27 trunk road runs east-west across the South Downs fringe, linking Chichester at the western end through Worthing, Brighton, Lewes and out to Polegate at the eastern end. The Brighton main line carries the dominant commuter flow into London Victoria and London Bridge from Brighton, Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and Three Bridges, with London journey times of 45 to 70 minutes. The Hastings line into London Charing Cross via Tunbridge Wells serves the eastern coastal belt at Battle, Bexhill and Hastings. And the West Coastway main line carries the western and central coast from Brighton through Worthing to Chichester and into the wider South Coast network beyond.
The property picture follows that geography closely. Recent HM Land Registry data shows just over 25,000 transactions across the county over the past eighteen months, with a county-wide median sale price sitting at £375,000. Across the postcode areas we cover most often, the spread is wide. RH16 Haywards Heath and RH13 Horsham carry the highest urban medians at £475,000 to £485,000, helped by the premium commuter-belt family-home stock and the prep-school catchments. BN18 Arundel and PO19 Chichester sit close behind at £465,000 to £525,000, lifted by listed-building stock and the South Downs market-town character. BN1 Brighton runs at £465,000 with BN3 Hove at £415,000, with the seafront and inland Victorian belts driving the average. The most affordable urban medians sit on the eastern coastal belt at TN34 to TN38 Hastings around £255,000 to £275,000, with BN22 Eastbourne and BN25 Seaford at the mid-range.
The type split tells a story of its own. Across the county the stock is roughly 35% terraced, 30% flats, 25% semi-detached and 10% detached, with the flat component heavily lifted by Brighton, Hove, Eastbourne and Worthing where seafront conversion stock dominates the central postcodes. The terraced dominance, especially the Victorian and Edwardian stock across central Brighton, Hove, Worthing and Hastings, is what makes Sussex such a productive market for refurbishment bridging and buy-refurbish-refinance work. The detached tier is concentrated in the West Sussex commuter belt at Horsham, Haywards Heath and Crawley new-build estates, and across the South Downs market towns at Chichester, Arundel and Midhurst. References to Brighton Palace Pier, Beachy Head, the Royal Pavilion, the De La Warr Pavilion, Lewes Castle, Arundel Castle and Cowdray Ruins recur in our deal notes because they continue to anchor the lending map.
The Sussex bridging market in 2026
Bridging activity in Sussex has held up well through 2025 and into 2026, with the overall county book running roughly 8% above the same period in 2024 by case volume. Three forces explain that. Stock availability at auction remains stronger than the wider south-east average, particularly on the East Sussex coast at Hastings and Bexhill. Refurbishment-to-buy-to-let economics still work on the central Brighton, Hove and Worthing terrace belt once you assume sensible rent yields. And the development pipeline that ran hot through the Gatwick fringe, Burgess Hill Northern Arc and the Mid Sussex strategic sites from 2022 to 2024 is now reaching practical completion in volume, generating a wave of development-exit refinance deals into bridging as schemes move from build phase to sales phase.
On rates, the picture in May 2026 is steadier than it was eighteen months ago. The ranges we are pricing across the panel are as follows. Regulated bridging on owner-occupied homes is sitting between 0.55% and 0.85% per month, with the lower end reserved for clean chain-break cases at 65% loan-to-value or below and a clear onward-sale exit. Unregulated standard bridging on investment, buy-to-let and commercial property is running between 0.65% and 1.25% per month, with the bulk of our Sussex book pricing inside 0.75% to 0.95%. Heavy refurbishment, Class MA conversion and development-exit cases sit at 0.85% to 1.5% per month, with pricing driven by build complexity, the strength of the contractor, and the planned exit. Listed-building refurb cases on Grade I and Grade II* stock at Lewes, Arundel, Rye and Midhurst typically sit at the upper end of those bands given the planning timetable and the narrower lender panel.
Loan sizes across the county run from £150,000 at the smaller terrace end of Hastings and the Hollington estates up to £25 million on the largest Class MA and dev-exit cases in Brighton, Worthing and Crawley. The middle of the book, where most of our Sussex work sits, is £300,000 to £2 million. Terms are short by design. Six to twelve months covers most cases. Eighteen months is available where the works schedule needs it. Twenty-four months is unusual on a standard bridge and is more often a signal that the deal wants to be development finance or term commercial debt rather than a bridge. Listed-building cases at Arundel, Lewes and Rye routinely run 15 to 18 months because of the listed-building consent timetable.
Lender appetite has shifted in two specific directions over the past twelve months. First, bridgers writing development-exit business on the Gatwick fringe and the Mid Sussex new-build pipeline have sharpened. They want clean stock with valid warranties, a clear sales plan, and ideally some pre-completion interest from buyers. Where those boxes tick, pricing has tightened by perhaps 0.1% to 0.15% per month against 2024. Second, Class MA office-to-residential conversion appetite has firmed up in Brighton city centre and along the Worthing town-centre pipeline, helped by settling buy-to-let term-rate expectations. Lenders are more willing to look at a portfolio BTL exit on a converted scheme at 70% loan-to-value if the stress on the proposed refinance looks deliverable on a five-year fixed at current pricing. Auction stock continues to clear with steady appetite across the East Sussex coast, particularly in Hastings TN34 and TN38 where two-up two-down terraces under £250,000 still represent the bulk of lots coming through regional rooms.
What is moving the deal flow in 2026, in plain terms, is a combination of older development books winding down and being refinanced into bridging, ongoing auction supply at the lower end of the East Sussex coastal price range, a steady stream of landlords adding to HMO portfolios across central Brighton and Hove, and the Class MA pipeline through Worthing and central Brighton continuing to generate substantial conversion work. We see a thinner book of pure speculative purchases, which fits the wider south-east picture, and we see chain-break activity holding roughly flat against last year across the premium commuter belt at Haywards Heath and Horsham. The local lending map is busy without being frantic, which is the kind of market where bridging tends to do its best work.
When Sussex investors and owner-occupiers use bridging
Bridging in Sussex distributes itself across the eight use cases that drive most short-term lending across the country, but the weights differ from a London or a Manchester book. Auction-completion work continues to be the single biggest individual flow by volume. Most of our auction cases anchor to the East Sussex coastal belt at Hastings TN34 and TN38, Bexhill TN40 and central Eastbourne, with occasional larger lots in central Brighton BN1 and BN2 and the Worthing terrace belt. The twenty-eight-day clock from hammer fall to completion is the constraint that defines every conversation. We routinely arrange a valuation booking inside seventy-two hours of taking the auction pack, push for title insurance where the seller's pack is incomplete, and complete inside fourteen days on anything that does not have a quirk in the title or vacant-possession status. Where a buyer is competing for a Brighton Hanover terrace or a Hastings seafront flat, the indicative-terms letter in twenty-four hours is part of the bid package, not an afterthought.
Chain-break bridging for residential buyers across the wider Sussex footprint runs second in volume. This is regulated work, and we introduce clients to our regulated introducer partners for the regulated element. The typical case is a family-home seller who has accepted an offer on their existing Haywards Heath, Horsham or Lewes property, has agreed on the onward purchase, and needs to complete the onward move before their sale completes. Six-month terms are common; nine-month terms appear where the onward sale is in a slower chain. Rates here are at the tighter end of the regulated band, helped by clean owner-occupied security and a visible exit through the onward sale. The premium tier of this stream sits at Lewes Cliffe, Arundel High Street, Midhurst North Street and Chichester walled city, where loan sizes routinely run £475,000 to £1.25 million against the sale of the existing home.
Refurbishment bridging is the workhorse of the Sussex investor book. Light refurbishment work, where the case is cosmetic kitchens, bathrooms, redecoration and a re-let, is common across the central Brighton, Hove, Worthing, Hastings and Bexhill terrace belts. Medium refurbishment, where layouts move and works run to three or four months, sits more often in the Brighton Hanover, Round Hill and Bevendean HMO conversion belt and the Worthing inland Victorian belt where larger terraces lend themselves to bedroom reconfiguration. Heavy refurbishment, including structural changes, full rewires, change of use, and HMO conversion under Article 4 considerations across central Brighton and Hove, sits at the more complex end and prices accordingly. Buy-refurbish-refinance work overlaps with the light and medium bands, with the exit being a buy-to-let term loan once the works complete and the property re-values up.
Development-exit bridging is meaningful in Sussex and is growing in 2026. Schemes that took development finance through 2023 and 2024 are reaching practical completion across the county, and the most cost-effective move once units start marketing is usually to step out of the development facility and onto a six to twelve-month bridge while sales complete. We see this across small schemes of three to eight units in central Brighton, the Burgess Hill Northern Arc and the Ridgewood pipeline at Uckfield, and on larger sites of fifteen to forty units around the Manor Royal corridor at Crawley and the Mid Sussex strategic sites at Bolnore Village. Planning-gain purchases, where a buyer is acquiring a site with a pending application or a recent consent, sit alongside dev-exit work as a more speculative cousin. Below-market-value purchases, often from probate or motivated vendors, continue to flow, particularly in Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne and Bognor Regis where the deeper retiree-owner base produces a steady probate-auction supply. Capital raise against an unencumbered or low-loan-to-value Sussex asset, used to fund a deposit on the next deal, rounds out the eight use cases and is more common than the public market commentary suggests.
Sector deep-dives
Brighton and Hove creative-tech, HMO and Class MA
The Brighton and Hove unitary authority is the deepest single bridging cluster in Sussex by case volume and total exposure. Three patterns dominate. First, HMO conversion bridging on the Article 4 direction zones across central BN1 and BN2, with three and four-bed terraces converting to licensed five and six-bed shared houses serving the University of Sussex and University of Brighton student pool of around 35,000 students. Works budgets sit at £45,000 to £95,000 against purchase prices of £475,000 to £625,000, with term 12 to 18 months and rate 0.95 to 1.25% per month. Second, Class MA office-to-residential conversion bridging in the city core. The 2021 permitted development right has produced a steady pipeline of small office buildings in the North Laine and the Lanes converting to apartment schemes of four to twelve units, with loan facilities £750,000 to £3.5 million, 12 to 18-month terms, rates 0.95 to 1.15% per month. Third, seafront flat acquisition and refurbishment for short-let and corporate-let on the Regency conversion stock running along Marine Parade and through the Brunswick squares in Hove. The combination of creative-tech employment, deep student demand, premium owner-occupier flow and a heavy short-let economy means Brighton and Hove deal volumes consistently sit at the upper end of the South East coast bridging book.
1066 Country coastal regen at Hastings, Bexhill and Rye
The eastern Sussex coast at Hastings, Bexhill and Rye carries a distinct bridging character anchored by the Hastings Heritage Action Zone funding, the De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill and the Cinque Port Citadel at Rye. The book splits across three patterns. First, auction-to-BTL refurbishment on the Victorian and Edwardian terrace belts at central Hastings TN34 and TN38, with regular probate and tired-landlord stock clearing at £180,000 to £265,000 through Clive Emson, Allsop and the regional Sussex rooms. Bridge of £150,000 to £225,000 at 75% loan-to-value, 9-month term, exit to BTL refinance. Second, listed-building refurbishment on the Hastings Old Town and St Leonards Burton conservation stock, plus the substantial Grade II and Grade II* listed period housing at Rye Citadel on Mermaid Street, West Street and Watchbell Street. Heavy refurb terms run 12 to 18 months with stage drawdowns against listed-building consent items. Third, holiday-let acquisition bridging on the Rye Citadel and Camber Sands seasonal-let tier, plus the Hastings Old Town short-let pocket. The combination of 1066 Country heritage tourism through Battle Abbey, Hastings Castle and the Cinque Ports cycle, and the affordable price points relative to the wider Sussex coast, sustains a consistent investor flow into the eastern coastal belt. Pricing sits in the 0.85% to 1.15% per-month band on most cases.
Gatwick fringe development-exit at Crawley, Horsham and Burgess Hill
The Gatwick fringe and the Mid Sussex new-build pipeline carry the dev-exit core of the Sussex bridging book. Three patterns dominate. First, development-exit bridging on small and mid-size residential schemes reaching practical completion across the Manor Royal redevelopment corridor at Crawley, the Burgess Hill Northern Arc estate, the Bolnore Village pipeline at Haywards Heath and the Ridgewood pipeline at Uckfield. Schemes of 6 to 30 units stepping out of development finance and onto a 9 to 12-month bridge while units market form a regular pipeline. Loan facilities £1.5 million to £5 million, rate 0.85 to 0.95% per month, exit on unit sales or portfolio investment refinance. Second, refurbishment-to-BTL on the Crawley new-town terrace belt and the Horsham Roffey and Comptons Lane Edwardian semis, with works lifting open-market value by 12 to 18% supporting clean BTL refinance exits inside 9 months. Third, commuter-belt chain-break across Three Bridges, Pound Hill, Maidenbower, central Horsham, Haywards Heath Lindfield and Burgess Hill family-home moves, with regulated bridges from 0.55% per month at 65 to 70% loan-to-value. The Gatwick Airport anchor with 38,000 direct staff, the Manor Royal Business District with 30,000 jobs and the Brighton main line into London Victoria with around 60,000 daily commuters across the corridor underwrite the consistent deal flow.
South Downs premium chain-break at Lewes, Chichester, Arundel and Midhurst
The South Downs market towns at Lewes, Chichester, Arundel, Midhurst and the wider country-house belt across BN8, BN18, GU29 and PO19 rural fringes carry the premium chain-break and listed-building core of the Sussex bridging book. Three patterns dominate. First, premium owner-occupier chain-break across the Cliffe at Lewes, the walled-city Georgian quarter at Chichester, the High Street and Tarrant Street conservation belt at Arundel, and the North Street and Knockhundred Row Tudor and Georgian core at Midhurst. Loan sizes routinely £475,000 to £1.25 million, regulated bridges at 0.55 to 0.65% per month against the sale of the existing home, regulated cases passed to our regulated partner firm. Second, listed-building refurbishment on Grade I, Grade II* and Grade II stock across all four towns, with 15 to 18-month terms and stage drawdowns against listed-building consent items as they are signed off. Heavy refurb on the most sensitive Tudor and Georgian stock requires a tighter lender panel with valuers experienced in early-period Sussex stock and Historic England engagement on Grade I cases. Third, rural-residential country-house bridging across the Cowdray Estate fringe at Midhurst, the Goodwood-fringe belt at Chichester, the Burpham and Houghton rural belt at Arundel and the Glyndebourne fringe at Lewes. Detached country houses with substantial grounds, paddocks, stable blocks and converted outbuildings come through at loan sizes £825,000 to £2.5 million on 9 to 12-month terms. The South Downs National Park designation across most of this footprint sustains values at the upper end and constrains residential development at the rural fringe, which underwrites the premium tier of the bridging book.
Sussex bridging lenders
Our headline panel is eight lenders, chosen because together they cover the full range of bridging activity in Sussex without duplication. They are MT Finance, Octane Capital, Roma Finance, United Trust Bank, Hope Capital, Together, LendInvest, and Octopus Real Estate. Each prices differently across the segments, and the case for taking a deal to a particular lender turns on where the case sits in the matrix.
MT Finance is the workhorse on standard unregulated bridging up to roughly £3 million, with quick decisions and a clean credit policy. They suit straightforward investment-property purchases and standard refurbishment exits across the East Sussex coastal belt and the central Brighton and Hove book. Octane Capital takes the heavier lift, including heavy refurbishment, Class MA conversion, mixed-use, light development and more complex security profiles. They are often the right call on a central Brighton HMO conversion or a Worthing town-centre Class MA case where the works are substantial. Roma Finance is strong on refurbishment-to-BTL and the buy-refurbish-refinance pattern that dominates the central Brighton, Hove, Worthing and Hastings investor book, particularly across the Victorian terrace stock. United Trust Bank sits at the regulated end of the panel, pricing tightly on owner-occupier chain-break work across the premium commuter belt at Haywards Heath, Horsham and Lewes where the security and exit are clean. Hope Capital is competitive on mid-band investment bridging and light-to-medium refurbishment, with a useful appetite for less standard properties on the East Sussex coast. Together spans regulated and unregulated, with particular strength on complex circumstances such as adverse credit or unusual borrower profiles where a clean exit makes the case work.
LendInvest moves quickly on larger residential investment cases and on development exit across the Gatwick fringe and the Mid Sussex new-build pipeline, with technology-driven processes that suit time-sensitive applications. Octopus Real Estate writes the larger end of the book, including development exit on schemes from £2 million up, Class MA conversion across the central Brighton and Worthing pipelines, mixed-use, and more substantial commercial bridges where institutional capital and bigger ticket sizes are required.
Beyond the eight, we work regularly with Shawbrook, Precise Mortgages, Allica Bank, Bridgebank Capital, Avamore Capital, Glenhawk, Aldermore and Kuflink. Each has a niche worth knowing. Shawbrook and Allica price well on cleaner commercial and semi-commercial bridges across the Sussex Coast Way and the Shoreham Port commercial belt. Bridgebank, Avamore and Glenhawk all have well-developed appetite for refurbishment and small development work that suits the Sussex investor profile, particularly across Hastings, Bexhill and the central Brighton terrace belt. Kuflink and Precise round out the panel with quick smaller-ticket work and the option of a portfolio approach on multi-property cases. ASK Partners and OakNorth come in on the largest tickets where a commercial relationship and larger lend make sense, particularly on the largest Class MA conversions at central Brighton and the largest dev-exit cases on the Manor Royal corridor at Crawley. The point of carrying that breadth is not to chase the cheapest headline rate on every case. It is to have a credible answer for every case, because the right lender on a Sussex deal is almost never the lender who answered the previous one.
Five recent Sussex deals
1. Hastings TN34 retail-with-flats-above auction completion
A central Hastings TN34 four-storey building with retail at ground floor and three flat conversions on the upper floors, bought at the Clive Emson regional auction for £385,000 with vacant possession on the upper floors and a sitting retail tenant on a five-year lease. Bridge of £285,000 at 75% of purchase price covering acquisition and a cosmetic refurbishment budget on the upper-floor flats, twelve-month term, exit through portfolio investment refinance once the three flats were let to professional tenants. Indicative terms inside twenty-four hours of the hammer falling. Valuation booked within forty-eight hours, title insurance applied to bridge a thin search pack, drawdown on day eleven. Rate at 0.89% per month. The cleanest version of the mixed-use auction pattern that runs through the East Sussex coastal book month after month.
2. Lewes Cliffe chain-break at £1.6m
A downsizer accepted an offer on their existing Brighton premium semi at £1.85 million, with a delayed completion the buyer's chain could not bring forward. The onward purchase, a Grade II listed Georgian townhouse on the Lewes Cliffe at £2.25 million, required completion in seven weeks ahead of a school catchment deadline. Regulated bridge of £1.6 million arranged at 71% loan-to-value against the onward Lewes property, nine-month term, exit through completion of the existing Brighton sale. Rate at 0.65% per month at the cleaner end of the regulated band. Introduced through our regulated introducer partner for the regulated activity, packaged and completed in twenty-one days from instruction. The premium residential chain-break pattern that runs through the South Downs market-town belt consistently through the cycle.
3. Brighton BN2 Hanover terrace HMO conversion refurb
A three-bed Victorian terrace in BN2 Hanover bought at £525,000 with planning consent secured for conversion to a licensed six-bed student HMO serving the University of Sussex and University of Brighton catchment. Total loan facility of £635,000 covering purchase and works, drawn against post-works valuation of £785,000 on the converted six-bed scheme. Fifteen-month term to allow for the Article 4 planning sign-off, the works programme including full rewire, replumb, six en-suite bathrooms and a reconfigured ground-floor kitchen-diner, and a specialist HMO buy-to-let refinance on completion. Pricing at 1.05% per month, with arrangement and exit terms reflecting the heavier refurbishment profile and the Article 4 planning timetable. A case where Octane Capital or Avamore Capital tends to land the deal cleaner than a lighter-touch lender.
4. Crawley Manor Royal 10-unit development-exit
A ten-unit residential scheme reaching practical completion near the Manor Royal Business District at Crawley, originally funded on development finance, with five units already reserved and five to market. Refinance bridge of £2.95 million at 65% of gross development value of £4.55 million, twelve-month term to allow for unit sales to complete. Step-down in pricing from the development facility of roughly 0.45% per month, providing the borrower with carry savings that more than cover the arrangement fee. Pricing at 0.85% per month. Octopus Real Estate or LendInvest is the typical home for cases of this size and shape, with the developer free to focus on sales rather than the cost of the original development facility.
5. Rye TN31 Citadel holiday-let acquisition
A two-bed Grade II listed Tudor period cottage on Mermaid Street, bought at £625,000 with the seller looking for a quick completion ahead of a relocation. Bridge of £405,000 at 65% loan-to-value, nine-month term, exit through a buy-to-let term loan underwritten against the long-let comparable rent rather than projected short-let income. The borrower's plan was to operate as a high-end short-let portfolio addition serving Cinque Ports heritage tourism flow, with the long-let comparable supporting the BTL refinance maths if the short-let position did not settle as quickly as forecast. Rate at 0.85% per month given the listed security and the clean exit profile. The pattern of premium holiday-let acquisition bridging that defines the Rye and Camber Sands footprint and runs through the eastern Sussex coast book month after month.
Outlook 2026 to 2027, and how we work
The forward view for Sussex bridging is steady rather than dramatic. We expect the regulated end of the market to soften modestly through the back end of 2026 as buy-to-let term-rate pricing settles, which should pull regulated bridging pricing down with it across the premium chain-break belt at Haywards Heath, Horsham, Lewes and Chichester. Unregulated standard bridging is likely to hold close to current levels, with competition between specialist lenders keeping pricing honest in the middle of the book across the central Brighton, Hove, Worthing and Hastings investor markets. Heavy refurbishment, Class MA conversion and development-exit pricing will move with the appetite of the larger specialist lenders, and we expect that to remain firm given the supply of completed development stock coming through the local pipeline at Crawley Manor Royal, Burgess Hill Northern Arc, Bolnore Village and the wider Mid Sussex strategic sites. The deal flow itself should hold or grow, particularly on the Class MA and development-exit segments, given the structural supply of Victorian and Edwardian stock across the central Brighton, Hove, Worthing and Hastings terrace belts and the wave of dev-exit work continuing into 2027.
The split between regulated and unregulated work on our Sussex book runs roughly twenty-five per cent regulated, seventy-five per cent unregulated. The regulated portion sits mostly in chain-break cases for owner-occupiers across the premium commuter belt at Haywards Heath, Horsham, Lewes and Chichester, plus the downsizer flow into the Eastbourne, Bexhill and Seaford coastal belt and the Brighton and Hove premium tier. The unregulated portion covers the investor and developer book in full, including the central Brighton HMO conversion stream, the Worthing Class MA pipeline, the East Sussex auction-to-BTL flow and the Gatwick fringe dev-exit corridor. We are not directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Regulated bridging on owner-occupied residential property is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and we introduce regulated cases to authorised partners who carry out the regulated activity and provide any required advice. We do not give advice on regulated mortgages, regulated bridging, or investment products.
On timelines, the standard expectations apply. Indicative terms inside twenty-four hours of a complete enquiry. Full underwriting in three to five working days once the lender has the pack. Valuation in five to ten working days depending on the valuer's diary and the access situation at the property. Legal completion in five to ten working days after valuation, with auction cases pushed harder using title insurance where the seller's pack supports it. Total elapsed time from first call to drawdown sits between ten and twenty-one days on most cases. Auction cases run faster, with seven to fourteen days achievable where the pack is clean. Listed building cases at Lewes, Arundel, Rye and Midhurst run slower, with the listed-building consent timetable typically adding four to eight weeks at offer stage on heavy refurb cases.
On fees, we are transparent. Lender arrangement fees typically run at 1.5% to 2.0% of the loan, added to the facility on most products. Valuation is payable on a case-by-case basis, with a typical residential valuation for a single Sussex terrace at £500 to £900, and country-house valuations on the rural-residential belt running £1,200 to £2,500. Legal costs sit at both borrower and lender side, typically £1,500 to £4,000 per side. Exit fees are zero on most products. Broker fees, where charged, are disclosed in writing before any work starts.
How we work is simple. A short triage call to understand the deal, the security, the timeline and the proposed exit. A written summary of indicative terms inside twenty-four hours, identifying the two or three lenders best placed to fund the case. A packaged submission with a valuation booking and legal instruction ready to go on lender selection. Then steady, weekly progress until drawdown. We do not run drip-email funnels, we do not chase clients through aggressive call cycles, and we do not promise rates we cannot deliver. The Sussex bridging market rewards specific work done at speed. That is what we set the desk up to do.