What is bridging lender due diligence?

The three parties

Bridging loans move quickly, so lenders need fast but thorough checks on the introducing broker, the solicitors acting on the deal and the borrowing company.

Which rules apply

Whether a bridging loan is regulated depends on the borrower, the security and how the property will be used. Loans to individuals secured on a home that they or a close family member will live in can be regulated mortgage contracts. Loans to limited companies often are not, but each case needs checking.

Separately, a lender may have anti-money laundering obligations, for example under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, as well as its funders' requirements. Whether and how these apply depends on the lender's own status and activities, so confirm with your money laundering reporting officer or compliance adviser. Register checks support that work but do not replace it.

Which registers to check

• Broker: FCA Financial Services Register, FCA Directory and FCA Warning List, plus Companies House.
• Solicitor: SRA register, SRA scam alerts, Council for Licensed Conveyancers register and Law Society accreditations.
• Borrower company: Companies House, the disqualified directors register, the Individual Insolvency Register and The Gazette.

What a good process looks like

• The same checks run on every case, in the same order.
• Each result is dated and backed by a screenshot.
• Manual steps are recorded with who checked and when.
• Possible matches are resolved by a person, never cleared automatically.
• Everything ends up in one file for credit and audit.

Where software helps

Running checks across the FCA, Companies House, SRA and other sources by hand takes time and invites missed steps. Vettsafe runs them in one place and produces a report for the credit file.