Property type: Holiday Let
Holiday Let Bridging Loans Somerset
We arrange bridging finance against holiday lets and short-stay property across Somerset, from the Bath UNESCO World Heritage short-let market through the Cheddar Gorge, Wookey Hole and Glastonbury tourism corridors out to Exmoor National Park, the Mendip, Quantock and Blackdown AONBs and the coastal resorts at Weston-super-Mare, Burnham-on-Sea and Minehead. Loan sizes run £150,000 to £2.5 million, terms 6 to 18 months, completions in 7 to 21 days. Holiday-let bridging is unregulated investment lending; pricing sits 0.8 to 1.25% per month depending on rental evidence and the credibility of the exit.
- Decisions in hours
- Completion in days
- £100k to £25m
- Somerset specialists
Somerset · Somerset
Bridge to your next move.
The asset class
What holiday let property looks like in Somerset.
Holiday-let property covers self-catering townhouse apartments and Georgian conversions in central Bath, country cottages and converted farm buildings across Exmoor and the AONBs, coastal apartments and houses on the Weston, Burnham and Minehead seafronts, properties marketed through Sykes Cottages, Holiday Cottages, Cottages.com, Airbnb and direct booking, larger holiday cottage portfolios held by single owners or small operators, and the small B&B and guesthouse stock that sits between holiday let and small-hotel. The income profile in central Bath is unusually year-round given the UNESCO and Roman Baths visitor base; the coastal and rural stock runs a more seasonal pattern with peak summer-and-half-term rates running materially ahead of off-season. Lenders read the rental evidence on a 12-month basis with a discount for void weeks and management costs. The asset reads as an investment property with a specialist income overlay.
Use cases
Bridging use cases for holiday let assets.
Holiday-let bridging cases across the county cluster around four patterns. The first is purchase of a central Bath Georgian townhouse, conversion flat or self-catering apartment with the intention of marketing as a short-let, where the bridge funds the purchase plus a refurbishment to short-let standard, with the exit to a specialist holiday-let BTL mortgage once the rental evidence is established. The second is refurbishment-and-reposition cases where an existing holiday let in the Cheddar, Glastonbury, Exmoor or coastal-resort markets is bought and upgraded to a higher rate band. The third is capital raise against an unencumbered holiday-let portfolio held by an established operator, often to fund the deposit for the next acquisition. The fourth is conversion plays where a former office, mixed-use, agricultural or even retail building is bought and converted to multiple holiday-let units, with the bridge funding the purchase plus the works. Lenders care about location, rental evidence, the operator's track record and the realism of the holiday-let BTL refinance exit.
Somerset context
Holiday-Let Demand from Bath UNESCO to Exmoor and the Coastal Resorts
Somerset holiday-let demand sits on a tourism base that is unusually deep and unusually varied. Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the Roman Baths, Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent and the Pump Room driving one of the highest year-round visitor counts of any UK city outside London. The short-let market in central Bath BA1 and BA2 trades on Saturday-to-Saturday Airbnb stays, midweek conference and business visitors, weekend tourist breaks and a relatively low seasonal trough. Cheddar Gorge, Wookey Hole and the Mendip Hills AONB anchor a separate rural-and-adventure tourism corridor with associated cottage stock. Glastonbury Tor, Glastonbury Abbey and the annual Festival at Worthy Farm draw a year-round and event-driven visitor flow, supporting holiday lets across BA6 and the surrounding villages. Exmoor National Park in the west of the county carries a strong walking, riding and country-tourism holiday-cottage market. The Quantock Hills and Blackdown Hills AONBs add a further rural-tourism short-let strand. The coastal resorts at Weston-super-Mare, Burnham-on-Sea and Minehead carry a long-standing British seaside tourism market with the Butlin's Minehead resort, the Weston Grand Pier and the seafront hotel and self-catering belt. Sykes Cottages, Holiday Cottages, Cottages.com and the wider holiday-let agency network all have meaningful stock across this geography. Bridging lenders price holiday-let in the Somerset catchment confidently where the borrower has rental evidence from a recognised agency or a credible projection.
Valuation and lenders
Valuation and lender considerations.
Holiday-let valuations come back on a residential comparable basis for the underlying property, with the holiday-let income recognised by some lenders for stress-test purposes on the refinance exit. Bridging lenders lend on the underlying residential value rather than any holiday-let investment uplift, with LTV caps sitting at 70 to 75% on stabilised holiday lets and 65 to 70% on conversion or refurbishment cases. MT Finance, Octane Capital, Roma Finance, LendInvest, Hope Capital, Octopus Real Estate, Together and United Trust Bank all take holiday-let bridging across Somerset. Specialist holiday-let BTL lenders for the refinance exit include Cumberland Building Society, Furness Building Society, Hodge and the dedicated holiday-let products at Precise Mortgages and Kent Reliance.
What we arrange
What we typically arrange.
A typical Somerset holiday-let bridge sits at £200,000 to £900,000, 70 to 75% LTV, 6 to 12 months term, 0.85 to 1.15% per month, arrangement fee 1.5 to 2%. Refurbishment cases include a works tranche. Exit is to specialist holiday-let BTL refinance, sale to an investor, or roll-up into a larger portfolio refinance. We work with holiday-let-specialist BTL brokers to package the refinance alongside the bridge so the exit is committed before drawdown.
FAQs
Holiday Let bridging questions
Can we bridge a holiday-let purchase in central Bath?
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Yes. Central Bath holiday lets are one of the most active parts of the book given the year-round UNESCO and Roman Baths visitor base. Lenders typically lend on underlying residential value at 70 to 75% LTV, with the holiday-let income recognised on the refinance exit rather than the bridge itself. Refurbishment to current short-let standard, including kitchen, bathrooms, soft furnishings and EPC works, is funded through the works tranche. Listed-building constraints in the Bath conservation area are checked first. Exit to specialist holiday-let BTL at 9 to 12 months is the usual route.
How do BTL lenders treat holiday-let income on refinance after a bridge?
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Specialist holiday-let BTL lenders recognise holiday-let income for stress-test purposes, typically requiring 12 months of trading evidence or a recognised agency projection. The exact rental cover and stress test varies by lender. We sequence the bridge so that by month 9 to 12 the trading evidence supports the refinance test cleanly. Where evidence is shorter, the lender pool narrows and the rate moves up, but the refinance is still achievable on the right asset.
What rate range applies to holiday-let bridging across the Somerset coast and Exmoor?
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Stabilised holiday lets with strong rental evidence and a clear refinance exit price at 0.8 to 0.95% per month at 70 to 75% LTV. Refurbishment and conversion cases price 0.95 to 1.2% per month at 65 to 70% LTV. Arrangement fees are 1.5 to 2%. Year-round Bath stock prices softer than seasonal Exmoor or coastal-resort stock, reflecting the rental-cover comfort the refinance exit will need to demonstrate.
Tell us about the deal
Indicative terms within 24 hours.
A short triage call, then a sized indicative offer against a named lender for your holiday let property in Somerset or across Somerset.
Regulated bridging on owner-occupied residential property falls under FCA regulation. Unregulated bridging on commercial and investment property does not. We are not directly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and we introduce regulated cases to authorised partners who carry out the regulated activity.
Next step
Talk to a Somerset holiday let bridging specialist.
We arrange short-term finance on holiday let property across Somerset and the wider Somerset market, from Bath and the Mendip through to Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil and the north-Somerset coast. Indicative terms in 24 hours.