ONSIDE / FEATURE
The development had detailed planning permission, and
a guaranteed maximum price design and build contract
backed by a highly professional team. All warranties and
legal agreements had been exchanged, including a forward
sale agreement.
Agreement for leases had been entered into with the hospital
for the three retail units which would trade as WH Smiths,
Marks & Spencer Simply Foods and Marks and Spencer Café,
together with a lease with the Oxford University Hospitals
Trust for the Reception and PALS areas.
Surprisingly even though Tim had obtained the pre let for the
shops and more importantly secured a sale of the property
once it was complete, he could not get bank funding for
the £2m he required to start and complete the project. He
therefore needed to look for alternative sources of finance
and turned to Seneca for support following an introduction
by a broker.
This wasn’t typical of the type of bridging finance historically
provided by Seneca but as Steve Charnock explained “I met
Tim and was very impressed with his professionalism and
the quality of the project. Financing the project had strong
appeal in view of a good quality tenant being in place and
with a sale contracted (with deposit held by solicitors) once
the project was complete. This was in all respects, a closed
bridge. The only risk was if the contractor failed to honour
the fixed price contract or didn’t complete the project but this
was not a complicated build and we felt the risk was minimal.
But for Seneca’s Steve Charnock reviewing each project on its
own merits is key. “The most important consideration is how
the loan is to be repaid and the level of certainty behind that
within a sensible timescale. We want to continue attracting
developers by growing our reputation for providing them
with a high quality service. We act quickly and look to
support our borrowers. We are not an aggressive lender.
Instead, we prefer to be flexible and work closely with clients
throughout the project and we like to visit every property we
are involved with and everyone we lend to.”
As Tim Hurdiss says: “You can always tell the complexity of
a deal by the number of different solicitors involved. This deal
had five. But despite that, Seneca turned around the finance
we needed within 5 weeks from first meeting to drawdown.
Hopefully in turn, we kept the Seneca Lending team informed
along the way, right up until we paid everything back within
the timescales we agreed.”
Seneca’s bridging company primarily funds the development
and refurbishment of residential properties for the rental
market. This short ter H