Octane Capital provides £7.3m bridge

The borrower, a client of Sirius Property Finance, was unable to refinance through a now more risk averse high street.

Octane Capital provides £7.3m bridge

Octane Capital has completed a £7.3m bridging loan secured against 11 residential properties in North London, comprising of 65 self-contained flats.

The portfolio, with an aggregate value of £12.6m, has numerous long-term planning issues which range from an authorised loft conversion in an otherwise consented building to fully unauthorised building reconfigurations.

The borrower, a client of Sirius Property Finance, was unable to refinance through a now more risk averse high street.

Nick Christofi, director at Sirius Property Finance, said: “Octane has made it clear they want to focus on loans that other lenders consider unworkable and they’ve certainly lived up to that here.

“It’s a loan no other lender in the market could have completed given the extensive planning-related hurdles and red flags.

“My client now has the time and resource to get all the consent issues resolved before refinancing on the high street.”

The loan took four weeks from initial enquiry to completion.

Matt Smith, director of risk at Octane Capital, added: “At Octane we relish detailed underwriting and this loan, with a particular focus on securing retrospective planning consents.

“Underwriting on the high street before the global financial crisis was far less robust and as a result we are seeing a lot more loans like this surface.”