Roma Finance
A Manchester bridging and development lender with institutional lines from NatWest, JP Morgan and others, writing to around £3m and completing four in five bridges within 28 days.
What they do
Roma Finance underwrites the borrower before the property, with a dedicated Manchester underwriting team and a separate unit for complex portfolio cases. Its product set is published in full: standard residential bridging from 0.59 per cent a month, light refurbishment from 0.79, semi-commercial and ground-up development from 0.89, below-market-value purchases from 0.99 and commercial from 1.00. Funding comes from institutional lines including £100m from NatWest, £120m from Cambridge Building Society, a JP Morgan forward flow and British Business Investments money. Lending covers England, Wales and Scotland.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
A published rate card across six products, a stated completion record and a lender that looks at the borrower first make this an unusually transparent counterparty at the smaller end. Development finance to around £3m and bridging at the same level suit a business funding a single property transaction rather than a whole raise.
Where they are not the fit
Headline facilities cap at £3m, which is the floor rather than the body of a £3–15m requirement, and larger cases are by referral rather than standard. Northern Ireland is excluded. Experienced investors and developers are preferred throughout, development schemes cap at twelve thousand square feet, and the buy-to-let product requires a special purpose vehicle borrower.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Bridging from 0.59%/month (standard residential), 0.79% (light refurb), 0.89% (semi-commercial or ground-up dev), 0.99% (BMV bridge), 1.00% (commercial bridge or commercial dev), 1.09-1.10% (commercial). BTL from ~2.25% + Bank of England base rate.
- Speed to terms
- 80% of bridging loans complete within 28 days (self-reported, romafinance.co.uk). Development and BTL timelines not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Corporate/investor appetite only; property investors, landlords, SME housebuilders. No sponsor-backed corporate lending
- Where they lend
- England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland not mentioned and likely excluded
- How they decide
- Broker-introduced; underwrites on the borrower before the property; dedicated underwriting team in Manchester; dedicated RomaPRO team for complex landlord/portfolio cases (established 2026); 80% of bridging cases complete within 28 days
- 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
Roma Finance lends through 8 separate books. Which one reads a deal decides the security, the covenant package and the band, so the question is rarely whether Roma Finance lends, but which of these would own it.
Romaflow bridging (residential & auction)
- Facility
- £75k to £3m
- Security
- First charge residential property; max 75% loan to value; underwrites on borrower before property
- Funds
- Acquisition · Refinance
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland excluded; Property security required
Romaflow light refurbishment bridge
- Facility
- £75k to £3m
- Security
- First charge; works cost 20-50% of current market value; up to 70% loan to value
- Funds
- Growth · Refinance
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland excluded; Property security required
Romaflow below market value bridge
- Facility
- £75k to £3m
- Security
- Up to 70% loan to value of below-market-value purchase price
- Funds
- Acquisition
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland excluded; Property security required; Experienced investors only
Romaflow semi-commercial bridge
- Facility
- £75k to £3m
- Security
- Up to 70% loan to value; no exit fee
- Funds
- Acquisition · Refinance
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland excluded; Property security required
Romaflow commercial bridge
- Facility
- £75k to £3m
- Security
- Up to 60-65% loan to value; no exit fee
- Funds
- Acquisition · Refinance
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland excluded; Property security required
Romagrow residential development finance (ground up)
- Facility
- £75k to £3m
- Security
- Up to 55% loan to value or 70% loan to gross development value; terms up to 24 months; development works at 60% loan to gross development value net plus fees
- Funds
- Growth
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland excluded; Property security required; Experienced developers preferred
Romagrow commercial development finance
- Facility
- £250k to £2.5m
- Security
- Up to 55% loan to value or 65% loan to gross development value; schemes up to 12,000 sq ft; terms up to 24 months
- Funds
- Growth
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland excluded; Property security required; Experienced developers only; Max scheme size 12,000 sq ft
Romapro buy-to-let mortgage
- Facility
- £75k to £2m
- Security
- Up to 75% loan to value; variable rate linked to Bank of England base rate; SPV borrowers only; top-slicing available
- Funds
- Acquisition · Refinance
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland excluded; SPV borrowers only; Property security required
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling is £3m; 73 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.
- It lends through 8 distinct desks, where most firms here run one or two.
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 Roma Finance write?
Published facilities reach £3m, 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.
How quickly does Roma Finance move?
80% of bridging loans complete within 28 days (self-reported, romafinance.co.uk). Development and BTL timelines not published. Published timetables describe a clean case; anything unusual in the security or the structure adds to them.
Does Roma Finance lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. Roma Finance 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
July 2026: £6m two-facility deal (development exit on 6 apartments + BTL portfolio refinance of 11 properties at 75% LTV) — Roma Finance's largest loan to date (romafinance.co.uk/the-hub/roma-finance-hits-new-milestone-with-6-million-completion/.
2026: £2.33m commercial development loan, Market Harborough — 11 light industrial/warehouse units at Hermitage Business Park, 18-month term (romafinance.co.uk/the-hub/roma-finance-launches-commercial-development-finance-product/.
February 2025: £100m NatWest funding line secured, total capacity increased to £400m (romafinance.co.uk/the-hub/roma-finance-secures-100m-funding-line-with-natwest/.
June 2026: J.P. Morgan forward flow agreed to launch long-term mortgage products (bridgingloandirectory.co.uk.
Sources: romafinance.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.