Quick Purchase Refurbishment

Bridging Loans for Property Auctions

Auction Finance

Property auctions move fast. Once the hammer falls you typically have 20 business days to complete or you lose your 10% deposit. Auction finance is bridging built specifically for that window — fast-tracked and structured so your solicitor can complete on time even if the property is unmortgageable through a high-street lender.

Today’s rates and costs 158 lenders active in the market Every fee in writing before you commit
Discuss your deal Always confidential. No obligation.

£200k–£100m+

Loan Size

12 to 24 months

Typical Term

some lenders go to 36 months

Up to 75% LTV

Typical LTV

Key Features

What We Offer

Auction deadline standard

Built specifically for the auction window. We typically complete auction purchases in 5 to 14 working days. That assumes a pre-instructed valuation and an AIP (agreement in principle) in place. Auctions usually require completion within about 20 business days, so you have time in hand.

Lend on what high-street rejects

Repossessions, derelict properties, short leases, mixed-use, non-standard construction — we price for the risk and lend on assets that don't fit a high-street box.

Modern Method of Auction supported

The 56-day MMoA window makes our timeline more relaxed; the underwriting process is otherwise identical to traditional auction.

Limited companies, SPVs, individuals

Trading businesses buying their own premises, professional landlords, first-time auction buyers — we'll walk you through it.

Adverse credit considered

Case-by-case. Bridging lenders price for risk; some adverse history doesn't kill the deal.

Ideal For

Common Scenarios

First-time auction buyers

Walking into the auction room with a financed deal. We explain the legal pack, valuation pitfalls, and what to do between bid and completion.

Experienced investors and developers

Quick turnarounds for portfolio buyers, BRR practitioners, and developers looking for off-market opportunities at auction.

Limited companies and SPVs

Standard structure for serious property buyers. Personal guarantee from a director typically required, no-PG variants available on larger deals.

Trading businesses

Buying your own premises at auction — owner-occupier commercial purchases on a bridging facility, refinanced once trading.

The Problem

Why Traditional Mortgages Fail at Auction

Most auction lots — repossessions, derelict properties, short-leasehold flats, mixed-use buildings, properties below £50,000 — fail high-street mortgage criteria for one or more reasons:

  • •The property isn't habitable (no kitchen, no bathroom, structural issues)
  • •The lease is too short
  • •It's commercial or part-commercial
  • •Non-standard construction (concrete, steel-frame, timber-frame)
  • •The seller can't provide the documentation a mortgage lender wants within the completion period, typically 20 business days

Bridging lenders price for that risk and lend on assets that don't fit a high-street box. That's the whole point.

Before The Auction

Get Terms Before You Bid

Don't wait until you've bid to start the process. Talk to us before the auction.

Send us:

  • →The auction catalogue entry (or legal pack download)
  • →Your max bid
  • →Your exit plan (sell, refinance, hold)

Indicative terms within 4 hours on straightforward deals, often quicker. Indicative terms are a guide, not an offer. Then on the day of the auction, you bid.

After The Hammer

The Completion Timeline

Business days from the fall of the hammer. The standard completion period is typically 20 business days.

Day 1–2

Full application + valuation instructed

All KYC documents in. Surveyor instructed. Solicitors instructed on both sides.

Day 3–7

Valuation returned, legal review begins

RICS valuation in. Our solicitor begins legal review of the auction pack.

Day 8–15

Conveyancing in parallel

Your solicitor completes searches and conveyancing in parallel with ours. Title queries resolved. Send your solicitor our note on what a bridge needs from the borrower’s solicitor.

Day 16–20

Completion

Funds drawn down to complete on or before the completion date. Deal closed.

If you instruct us within 48 hours of winning the bid, completing within the completion period (typically 20 business days) is straightforward.

New to buying at auction? Our step-by-step guide on how to finance an auction purchase walks through getting bridging in place before you bid.

Moment of Truth

At the Fall of the Hammer

The hammer falls. Three things happen at that exact moment, and the next 48 hours matter more than the rest of the completion window (typically 20 business days) combined.

The completion clock (typically 20 business days) starts immediately. Not when you sign contracts, not when your solicitor confirms instruction — the moment the lot is knocked down. The completion date is fixed by the auction conditions and is enforceable. If you miss it, the seller's solicitor can serve notice to complete, retain your 10% deposit, and (in many cases) seek further damages for losses incurred.

You sign contracts and pay the 10% deposit in the room (or online, for digital auctions). The deposit is non-refundable from that point. Most auctioneers also charge a "buyer's premium" or admin fee on top — budget 1.5–2% of hammer price for combined fees and disbursements. If you run an auction room, see how we work with auctioneers.

Your three immediate next steps: first, contact us (or your bridging broker) with the lot number, hammer price, and signed memorandum of sale. Second, instruct your conveyancing solicitor formally if you hadn't done so pre-auction. Third, take any guidance from the auction pack to your solicitor that day — legal-pack pinch-points (restrictive covenants, leasehold queries, mining searches) need flagging in week 1 not week 3.

Speed in the first 48 hours is the single biggest predictor of a clean completion. Call us on 0330 223 7872 the same working day if you've just won a bid.

Lender Lens

Auction-Specific Underwriting

A specialist auction-bridging lender looks at three things first, in this order:

1. Clear title. The legal pack on an auction lot must demonstrate clean, registrable title with no unresolved restrictive covenants, no contested leasehold issues, no missing land registry entries, no chancel-repair liability, no overriding interests. Where the pack throws up a query — an indemnity insurance gap, a re-entry clause, a missing planning consent — the lender's solicitor has to be able to clear it inside the completion window, typically 20 business days. If they can't, the deal fails. Lenders experienced with auction bridging have solicitor panels who routinely resolve common pack issues in days, not weeks.

2. No outstanding planning issues. The lender wants either current planning consent in place, lawful established use confirmed, or a clear pathway to legitimise current use under the 4-year and 10-year rules. Properties with active enforcement notices, unauthorised extensions awaiting decision, or pending planning appeals are difficult to fund within the completion period (typically 20 business days) because the planning risk can't be quantified in time.

3. A substantively-completed valuation. Many specialist lenders have valuation panels that can issue a desktop or drive-by valuation within 3–5 working days of instruction, with full physical inspections completing in the same week. The lender wants the valuation in by day 7 so legal and underwriting have time to react if the figure comes in soft. A clean RICS valuation that confirms purchase price (or comes in higher) makes the rest of the timeline straightforward. Bought a lot well under value? Here are below-market-value purchases explained.

What lenders are not overly fixated on for auction bridging: borrower credit footprint (provided fundamentals are sound), the property's structural condition (priced into LTV), or perfect documentation history. The product exists precisely to fund assets and timelines that fail mainstream criteria.

After the Completion Date

After Completion — Common Exit Routes

Once the auction bridge funds and the property completes, three exit routes account for roughly 90% of cases:

Sale within term (flip). Most common for investors who acquired below market with a clear refurb-and-resell plan. Light cosmetic works in months 1–3, listing in months 4–6, sale typically completing by month 9 of a 12-month term. The bridging facility's lack of early-repayment charge after month 3 means you don't get penalised for an early sale.

Refurb and refinance to BTL. For landlords adding to portfolio. Refurbish to a lettable standard, tenant in place, refinance onto a buy-to-let or specialist BTL term loan on the post-works valuation. Our refurbishment finance page covers the works-funding side; the auction bridge often gets restructured into a refurb bridge at this stage rather than being a separate facility.

Refinance to a commercial or owner-occupier mortgage. For trading businesses that bought their own premises at auction, or for commercial investors holding the asset long-term. The bridge gives 6–12 months for the building to stabilise — tenanting, refurb, or trading history — before a high-street commercial mortgage becomes available.

Each route is well-understood by specialist auction-bridging lenders and the underwriting at funding day already considers which route is most likely. Discussing your exit honestly with your broker before the auction makes the case much easier to fund.

Loan Parameters

Auction Finance Rates & Headline Numbers

Auction finance rates — the headline cost of an auction finance loan — start from 0.50% a month for standard bridging, rising with leverage and complexity. Bridging loans for auction properties are available from across the 158 lenders active in the market; see the full rates table for the by-LTV breakdown.

Loan size

£200k–£100m+

LTV

Typically up to 75% of purchase price (or OMV, whichever lower); a few lenders will go higher with additional security

Rates

From 0.50% a month for standard bridging

Completion

Typically 5 to 14 working days for auction purchases. That assumes a pre-instructed valuation and an AIP (agreement in principle) in place.

Term

12 to 24 months; some lenders go to 36 months

Property types

Residential, commercial, mixed-use, semi-commercial

Standard bridging: first charge, under 50% loan-to-value, straightforward cases. Rates as at 29 October 2026.

Common Questions

Auction Finance FAQ

What's the latest I can apply after winning a bid?
We'd want to start within 48 hours. Earlier is better — every day spent shopping around eats into your completion window, typically 20 business days.

Do you lend on properties bought at modern method of auction?
Yes. Modern method auctions typically give 56 days to complete which makes our timeline more relaxed, but otherwise the process is identical.

What if the survey comes in lower than my bid?
We lend against the lower of purchase price or surveyor's valuation. If the gap is small you can top up the deposit; if large, we'll restructure or, in extreme cases, you may have to walk away from the deposit.

Will I lose my 10% deposit if you can't complete in time?
The 10% deposit risk is exactly why we specialise in this product.

How quickly can I get a bridging loan for an auction property?
We typically complete auction purchases in 5 to 14 working days. That assumes a pre-instructed valuation and an AIP (agreement in principle) in place. Auctions usually require completion within about 20 business days, so you have time in hand.

What deposit do I need for an auction bridging loan?
The auction itself requires a 10% deposit at the fall of the hammer (paid to the auctioneer, non-refundable). The bridging loan typically funds up to 75% of the purchase price (a few lenders will go higher with additional security), so you'll need to contribute the difference between the loan amount and full price. On a £400,000 purchase at 75% LTV: £40,000 auction deposit + £60,000 top-up at completion = £100,000 total cash in. Plus auction fees (typically 1.5–2%) and legals.

Can I get a bridging loan for a UK property auction?
Yes — auction bridging is one of the most established UK bridging products and is funded across all the major national auction houses (Allsop, Savills, Acuitus, Auction House UK and regional auctioneers), including venue-based sales at Kempton Park Racecourse, ExCeL London, and regional salerooms across the country. It works equally for traditional in-room and online auctions, and for Modern Method of Auction (56-day window). Residential, commercial, mixed-use and semi-commercial lots all qualify provided title and planning are clear.

What happens if I miss the completion deadline (typically 20 business days) on an auction purchase?
If completion misses the completion date, the seller's solicitor can serve "notice to complete" requiring completion within a further 10 working days. If you still don't complete, you forfeit the 10% deposit, and the seller may be able to claim further damages (resale costs, any price gap on resale). The risk is real and why specialist auction bridging exists. Most slippage comes from late instruction or legal-pack issues that should have been flagged pre-auction.

What is the LTV for auction finance?
Auction finance typically lends up to 75% of the purchase price (or the surveyor's valuation, whichever is lower). A few lenders will go higher with additional security. Lenders use the lower of price-vs-valuation because auction lots can sell below or above true market value — a property bought well under value may actually support a higher loan against the valuation. For unmortgageable, commercial, or higher-risk lots the LTV is more conservative (often 60–70%), and any refurbishment works are funded on top against the post-works value rather than included in the day-one LTV. The remaining deposit (plus the 10% paid at the hammer and auction fees) comes from your own funds.

How do you finance an auction purchase?
Auction purchases are almost always financed with a bridging loan, because the completion deadline (typically 20 business days) is too short for a standard mortgage. The process: bid, pay the 10% deposit at the fall of the hammer, then we fund up to 75% of the purchase price and complete within the completion period, typically 20 business days. You cover the gap between the loan and the price from your own funds, plus auction fees and legals, and then exit the bridge by selling, refinancing onto a mortgage, or completing refurbishment works.

What are auction finance rates?
Auction finance rates start from 0.50% a month for standard bridging. Standard bridging is defined under the rate tiles. Auction finance itself is priced case by case, so we do not quote a range for it. Rates vary with loan-to-value, property type, exit strategy, and deal complexity — all figures are indicative and subject to individual assessment. Interest is rolled up to redemption: no monthly payments during the term. Arrangement fees are typically 1–2% of the gross loan. For standard bridging rates by loan-to-value, see our rates table.

How much does auction finance cost?
Auction finance (a bridging loan) has four main cost components: interest, starting from 0.50% a month for standard bridging (auction bridging itself is priced case by case); arrangement fee of 1–2% of the loan amount, payable on completion; legal and valuation fees — you pay the lender's solicitor as well as your own, plus a RICS valuation; budget about £1,500–£2,000 plus VAT for each side on a loan of about £200k (more on larger or complex loans) for legals for each side and nil to about £100 for a desktop valuation and up to about £2,000 for a full one, plus VAT, on a loan of about £200k for the valuation, depending on the property; and our fee, generally 1% of the gross loan, paid on completion. Worked example: a £500,000 loan over 9 months. Auction bridging is priced case by case. The fees on £500,000 come to £16,500 before interest: a 1% arrangement fee (£5,000; lender fees typically 1–2%), valuation (£2,500), legal fees (£4,000) and our 1% fee (£5,000). Use our total cost calculator to model exact figures for your deal before you bid.

Can I get auction finance direct from a lender?
Most specialist auction bridging lenders don't offer direct-to-borrower products — they originate deals exclusively through broker relationships. The few that do offer direct routes provide access to one lender's products, which means you're comparing a single set of terms against the 158 lenders active in the market. Our fee (generally 1% of the gross loan, paid on completion) is usually recovered through rate negotiation — a broker who knows the lender's appetite for your specific lot type and LTV regularly achieves better pricing than any borrower going direct. For auction, where the completion clock (typically 20 business days) is already running, matching your deal to the right lender first time (rather than shopping around post-bid) is the more valuable outcome than saving the broker's fee.

What is the best property auction company in the UK?
The major UK property auction houses each have a different focus: Allsop (London-based, strong on residential investment and commercial lots), Acuitus (commercial property only, institutional-quality lots), Savills Auctions (national reach, mixed residential and commercial), Auction House UK (largest regional residential network by volume, with rooms across England and Wales), SDL Auctions (Midlands and North focus), and iamsold / NAEA (Modern Method of Auction, 56-day window). We've completed deals at all the major houses — including Allsop's Kempton Park Racecourse events and ExCeL London sales. The "best" auction house depends on what you're buying: regional residential investment points to Auction House UK; London commercial to Allsop or Acuitus; national portfolio or development sites to Savills. The auction house itself doesn't affect how we finance the deal — our process is identical regardless of where the lot was sold.

Is it worth buying property at auction in the UK?

For the right buyer with the right preparation, yes — buying at auction in the UK offers genuine advantages that are hard to replicate in a private treaty sale:

  • Below-market pricing — auction lots are often priced to sell quickly, with vendors accepting a discount for the certainty of a legally binding sale on the day. Investors regularly acquire properties at 10–25% below private treaty equivalents.
  • Wide lot variety — repossessions, development sites, commercial properties, and tenanted investments all appear at auction. Many of the most attractive opportunities are properties that high-street buyers can't finance — which means less competition.
  • Speed — contracts exchange on the fall of the hammer. There are no chains, no gazumping, and no last-minute renegotiations. If you win the lot, the deal is done.

The risks are real and should not be underestimated:

  • Non-refundable 10% deposit — once you win the bid, the deposit is at risk. You must have your finance in place before you bid, not after.
  • No mortgage on the day — the completion window (typically 20 business days) eliminates the mortgage option for most buyers. Auction finance (bridging) is the standard solution.
  • Legal pack risks — the property is sold as-is, with whatever title issues and structural conditions exist. Review the legal pack with a solicitor before bidding, not after.

The verdict: buying at auction is worth it for informed buyers who have done their due diligence, reviewed the legal pack, and have their finance in place before they bid. Going in unprepared is how people lose their deposit. Read our step-by-step guide on financing an auction purchase before your first bid.

Related Products

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Real Results

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All case studies →

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