Hampshire Trust bank funds £1.9m refurb

A client was looking to build another floor on an existing development.

Hampshire Trust Bank’s commercial mortgages division has provided a £1.9m loan to finance a heavy refurbishment project.

The application was submitted by Hertfordshire-based broker Platinum Options on behalf of a client who was looking to build another floor on an existing development.

Danny Antoniou, director at Platinum Options, said: “I can only comment on what a pleasure it’s been dealing with Hampshire Trust Bank.

“We recently completed our first commercial loan with the bank after having re-mortgaged the loan away from one of their competitors.

“I am impressed with the quality of service received from initial enquiry right through to completion.

“What has been evident and especially on this particular case was the willingness of Hampshire Trust Bank to find a solution to an unusual request to provide funding on a freehold property with two flats and at the same time to allow an additional floor to be added to the building. I also like the fact that we can instruct surveyors ourselves.

“Great work and there will be more cases coming Hampshire Trust Bank’s way.”

Hampshire Trust Bank, which launched into the commercial mortgages sector earlier this year, provides structured specialist lending for SMEs, trading businesses and investors, offering bridging and term finance secured against buy-to-let, semi-commercial and commercial property.

Colin Bell, managing director of commercial mortgages at Hampshire Trust Bank, said: “The commercial mortgages team at the bank is staffed with experts.

“We recently appointed three new experienced underwriters to the team. We pride ourselves on putting specialist people behind our processes and decisions to ensure our introducer partners and borrowers get balanced decisions for complex cases.

“As a bank we are experts in development and refurbishment finance as well as commercial and buy-to-let, which ensures we have the knowledge to underwrite larger refurbishment projects such as this.”