Castle Trust Bank
A retail-deposit-funded bank lending light and heavy refurbishment bridging from £150k to £5m through intermediaries, from around 0.70 per cent a month.
What they do
Castle Trust Bank is PRA-authorised and funds its lending from retail deposits rather than wholesale lines. Its commercial bridging book covers light refurbishment from about 0.70 per cent a month, drawdown facilities at around 0.77, and heavy refurbishment from roughly one per cent, with a two per cent arrangement fee and a valuation fee refund on eligible light-refurbishment cases. Title insurance and dual legal representation are used to compress completion. Distribution is through specialist brokers, packagers and mortgage clubs, with regional managers and case managers aligned to underwriters.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Bank funding behind bridging is worth something: deposits do not withdraw the way a wholesale line can, and the pricing reflects a cheaper cost of funds. Heavy refurbishment, where a building is being materially altered rather than decorated, is a defined product here rather than an exception, and that is the case most short-term lenders find hardest.
Where they are not the fit
Facilities cap at £5m, so only the bottom of a £3–15m requirement is reachable. Distribution is intermediary-only and coverage is effectively England and Wales. This is property-backed lending throughout, with no cashflow or corporate product.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Heavy refurb from ~0.99-1.02%/month; light refurb from ~0.70%/month across loan to value bands (light-refurb-with-drawdown ~0.77%); 2% arrangement fee; up-to-£750 valuation-fee refund on eligible light-refurb completions (repriced Jun-Aug 2026)
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Property investors/developers - individuals, limited companies, portfolio landlords, HNW, foreign nationals; NOT sponsor-backed corporate M&A
- Where they lend
- UK, nationally intermediary-distributed; England & Wales core for property security
- How they decide
- Intermediary-only - via specialist broker, packager or mortgage club (or direct if correct permissions held); regional BDMs; dedicated case managers aligned to underwriters
- Personal guarantee
- Typically required
- Search funds and ETA
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed August 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
The desks that lend
Castle Trust Bank lends through 2 separate books. Which one reads a deal decides the security, the covenant package and the band, so the question is rarely whether Castle Trust Bank lends, but which of these would own it.
Heavy refurbishment bridging (with staged drawdowns)
- Facility
- £250k to £5m
- Security
- First charge over UK property; net-loan to value up to 75% or up to 70% loan to gross development value
- Funds
- Growth · Refinance
- Rules out
- Not a cash-flow/EBITDA corporate lender; Property-backed security required; Max £5m ticket (bottom-of-band); Intermediary-only distribution
Light refurbishment / standard bridging
- Facility
- £150k to £5m
- Security
- First charge over UK property; net-loan to value basis
- Funds
- Refinance
- Rules out
- Property-backed security required; Max £5m ticket; Intermediary-only distribution; England & Wales only
Limits that apply across the firm
Stated limits, taken from Castle Trust Bank’s own published criteria, beyond the ones each desk carries above. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- No appetite in unsecured lending
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling is £5m; 67 of the 75 property-backed lenders here go at least as high.
- 65 of the 75 publish an indicative price at all; it is one of them.
Counted across the 75 property-backed lenders in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does Castle Trust Bank write?
Published facilities reach £5m, and the bottom of the published range is small-ticket business rather than a corporate facility. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does Castle Trust Bank require a personal guarantee?
On Castle Trust Bank's published terms, a personal guarantee is typically required. What a lender asks for on a given credit is settled in the documents, not by a published stance.
Does Castle Trust Bank lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. Castle Trust Bank publishes no route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
On the record
January 2025: Cut rates and arrangement fee across entire bridging range (theintermediary.co.uk.
Sources: theintermediary.co.uk · mortgagesolutions.co.uk · bridgingandcommercial.co.uk · propertyreporter.co.uk · castletrust.co.uk
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.