Landmark Specialist Finance backs £1.8m GDV commercial to residential scheme

Specialist brokerage Landmark Specialist Finance (LSF) has structured a refurbishment bridging loan for a first-time developer.

The borrower is converting three commercial units beneath an existing block of flats in Enfield into six new one-bedroom apartments.

The client sold their main home to buy the freehold interest in the building. The existing flats had already been sold on long leases, but three commercial units remained within the property.

Two were occupied, including a fish-and-chip shop, while the third had become vacant.

After securing planning permission across the three commercial units, the client identified an opportunity to convert the unused space into six residential apartments.

LSF, which operates across BTL, commercial, development and bridging, was involved from the point of purchase, bringing together its network to structure the transaction.

This included legal advisers, an architect and a planning consultant, alongside the client's own plans for the site.

The team arranged a development facility secured on the long-leasehold commercial element.

The scheme has an estimated build cost of £600,000, with a 10% contingency of £60,000, creating a total development budget of £660,000. The projected GDV is £1.8m.

Gaurav Ladhar, managing director at Landmark Specialist Finance (pictured above), commented: "Mixed-use buildings, long-leasehold structures and first-time developers can push a case outside what many lenders are set up to assess.

“Yet these are exactly the kinds of buildings that can deliver new homes without needing new land.

"This project worked because the funding, legal and planning advice came together from the point of purchase, rather than after the plans were drawn up.

“There is further potential in the building too, with the client considering another long-leasehold commercial unit and, longer term, an airspace scheme of around ten additional units."