What makes a bridging loan regulated?
Where the security is a property that you or an immediate family member occupy, or intend to occupy, as a home. That makes it a regulated mortgage contract under FCA rules.
It is the use of the property, not the size of the loan or the lender, that decides it. A bridge to buy your next home before selling your current one is a typical example of a regulated bridge.
What counts as unregulated, business-purpose bridging?
Bridging secured on investment, commercial or development property, usually held personally as an investment or through a company, where no one lives in it as their home.
- Buying an investment property at auction.
- Refurbishing a property to let or sell.
- Purchasing commercial premises or a development site.
- Raising capital against an investment property for business use.
Does Edge Commercial Finance arrange regulated bridging?
No. Edge Commercial Finance arranges unregulated, business-purpose finance only. Regulated bridging secured on a home someone lives in must go through an FCA-authorised firm.
We are not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and do not advise on or arrange regulated mortgage contracts or regulated bridging loans. If your enquiry turns out to be regulated, we will tell you at the first conversation and refer you to an authorised firm, rather than take it forward ourselves.
What protections apply to regulated bridging?
Regulated bridging carries affordability checks, prescribed disclosure and access to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Unregulated bridging does not carry the same consumer protections.
Those protections exist because the borrower's home is at stake. Unregulated lending is generally assessed on the asset, the exit and the borrower's experience, and the documentation and timescales differ as a result.
Is unregulated bridging quicker to arrange?
It can be, because there are fewer prescribed steps. Speed still depends on the valuation, the legal work and how clear the exit is.
Fewer formal requirements do not mean less scrutiny. Lenders still test the security, the deposit and the exit carefully. [STAT + SOURCE]
What if I am not sure whether my bridge is regulated?
Ask at the start. The answer depends on who lives, or will live, in the property, and it decides which firm can help you.
Mixed cases — for example, where part of a building is a home — need checking before anything else happens. Tell us how the property is used and we will give you a straight answer on whether we can help or who can.