Age Restriction for Bridging Loans: SPV and Trust Borrowers

You have been told there is an age restriction for bridging loans. On a retail mortgage that usually means a maximum age at the end of the term. It is the wrong test if the borrower of record is an SPV, a trust or an offshore holding company.

You may be 74. The settlor may be 81. A family office may be acting for both. None of that, on its own, rules out a first-charge facility when the security is the property and the exit is real.

A bank Decision in Principle can still fail on age even when the asset is clean. A private lender underwrites the charge and the way out. Age stays in the KYC pack. It does not, by itself, decide the file.

When the borrower of record is a company or a trust

A UK bridging loan is underwritten against the asset and the exit, not against earned income or a maximum age at term end. Rikvin Capital is a direct private lender, not a bank. We lend to high-net-worth individuals, SPVs and corporates in the UK, typically £1M – £100M, at indicative LTV of up to 75%, for 3–24 months.

The borrower can be a UK limited company, an SPV set up for the purchase, a trust or an offshore holding company. The charge sits on the title. Your date of birth is then a KYC fact, not a credit policy.

One boundary is worth stating plainly: a loan to an individual secured on the home they live in sits outside what we lend on, at any age.

That is why older principals can still complete. Related: strategic bridge funding for a prime Hampstead property turned on structure and security, not on a personal age cap.

What still gets checked on older directors and trustees

Age does not vanish from the file. It moves. Trustees must have authority to borrow and to grant a first charge.

Settlors and protectors need the powers the deed actually gives them. Directors of an SPV must be able to sign. Companies House filings have to match the people in the room.

If the only signatory is 78 and unwell, we need a second authorised person, not an assumption. The checks that still matter are practical:

• Authority in the trust deed or the company's articles to borrow and to charge the asset
• Signatories who match the public record and can complete
• Whether a personal guarantee is required, and who can honestly give one
• Probate and succession risk on a 3–24 month tenor
• ATED and Land Registry mechanics where title is corporate

Personal guarantees are a separate question. Some facilities need one. A 78-year-old director may still give it; some will not, and some estates should not. We will say so at term-sheet stage. Guarantees are indicative and subject to due diligence.

Corporate title is the borrower's tax and legal work, not ours, and we do not advise on it. We do need the structure to be capable of completing. For how KYC and ATED sit on an offshore borrower, see bridging via an offshore company.

Sale exits versus a refinance at term end

A contracted sale is usually the cleanest exit. The property is sold, the charge is redeemed, and age does not re-enter the test. That holds in prime central London as it does on a regional investment house.

A refinance at term end is different. If the take-out is a residential mortgage in a personal name, the same age restriction for bridging loans that blocked the high street at the start may block it again. If the take-out is another corporate facility, or a sale, it may not.

Pick the exit you can deliver inside 3–24 months. Do not use a bridge to postpone a bank's age test you still have to pass. For how we look at these borrowers, read how SPVs, trusts and offshore companies should choose a UK bridging lender. If timing is tight, the lending process is built around a term sheet in 24 hours. Drawdown is typically about two weeks, subject to valuation and due diligence.

When a bridge is the wrong tool

A bridge is the right tool when the asset is real, the charge is first, the exit is dated and the company or trust can actually sign. It is the wrong tool when the only path out is a personal mortgage the borrower will be too old to obtain. It is also the wrong tool when trustee authority is missing, or when the property cannot support the LTV.

The main risk is tenor. The money costs more than a bank, and 24 months is short if probate, a failed sale or a rejected refinance eats the calendar. Rolled-up interest only helps if the exit still clears the debt.

A 25-year term in a personal name is a bank product, not this one. Completing a purchase, breaking a chain, or holding an asset while a trust is reorganised is closer to the use case. All figures remain indicative.