What counts as heavy refurbishment?
Development finance covers heavy refurbishment — projects where the work is substantial enough to require staged funding and professional monitoring. This typically means:
- Structural alterations: Removing or adding walls, floors, or roof structures
- Full strip-outs: Gutting a building back to shell and rebuilding the interior
- Extensions: Adding significant floor area to an existing building
- Reconfiguration: Converting a single dwelling into multiple flats, or vice versa
- Change of use: Converting commercial premises to residential (with or without PD rights)
- Heritage renovations: Listed building restoration requiring specialist contractors
If the work is purely cosmetic — new kitchen, bathroom, decorating, carpets — that's light refurbishment, funded by bridging finance, not development finance.
How refurbishment finance works
The structure mirrors new-build development finance:
- Day-one advance: Covers purchase of the property (typically 65–75% of current value)
- Refurbishment facility: Drawn down in stages as work progresses, verified by a monitoring surveyor
- Interest: 7.5–13% per annum, rolled up
- Term: 12–18 months typically (refurbishment is usually faster than new-build)
- LTC: 75–85% of total costs (purchase + refurbishment + fees)
- LTGDV: 60–70% of completed value
Refurbishment-specific risks lenders consider
- Hidden issues: Existing buildings often conceal problems — asbestos, structural movement, damp, rot, outdated wiring. Budget for a comprehensive building survey and include contingency.
- Listed building constraints: If the building is listed, renovation must respect the listing. Materials and methods may be prescribed by conservation officers, adding cost and time.
- Party wall matters: Structural work on semi-detached or terraced properties requires party wall agreements with neighbours, which can cause delays.
- Building Regulations: Refurbishment projects must bring the building up to current standards for fire safety, energy efficiency, and accessibility. This can be more complex than new-build compliance.
Getting refurbishment finance
Upload your project to Assesr with the purchase details, building survey, cost schedule, and planning permission or PD rights. The AI generates a credit paper tailored to refurbishment — highlighting the existing building's value, the uplift from works, and comparable evidence for the completed property. Matched to 50+ lenders in 60 seconds.