Bridging finance, particularly for commercial property, can be complex and ideally requires a solicitor experienced in commercial bridging to do the legal work. Harry Tuke, a partner at MW Solicitors who does a lot of legal work for bridging finance, said to BridgingAndCommercial in February 2018:
“We are regularly approached by borrowers (and their concerned brokers) who need help when a matter has either slowed down or met legal complications, usually as a result of unresponsive conveyancers.”
Tuke said that borrowers would not have experienced these issues if they had used a specialist bridging finance solicitor. Bridging loans can be quick to arrange, but speed is partly dependent on there being no delays in the legal work. Another issue is that different lenders may have different requirements for the legal aspect of the loan application. Although these differences are not vast, an experienced bridging finance solicitor will be able to adapt to any lender’s requirements. Many people assume that all conveyancing is the same, but the legal work for commercial property can be a lot different to that for residential buildings. A solicitor regularly involved in home conveyancing may not be experienced in commercial property conveyancing. When a borrower uses a bridging loan broker, they can discuss the issue of who does the legal work. The broker can advise borrowers on using a specialist solicitor, which can be a better solution than hiring the borrower’s usual solicitor – who may be a good solicitor but not a specialist in bridging finance.
