Hampshire Trust Bank review UK 2026, specialist buy-to-let, bridging and development finance

What Hampshire Trust Bank lends

The specialist buy-to-let and semi-commercial page, read 21 September 2026, states loans up to £25m at up to 75% net loan to value on 2 or 5 year fixed terms, with no maximum age and no minimum income. It lists what the bank lends on: large and small portfolios, holiday lets, HMOs, semi-commercial property, serviced accommodation, sitting tenants, new build flats and purpose built student accommodation. One published completion was a £12.1m refinance of eight Islington properties, a mix of multi-unit freehold blocks and flats above shops, at 65% loan to value with £4.7m raised for further investment.

Two published criteria notes add detail. On the 5 year fixed product, loans on standard buy-to-let and HMOs run to £5m at 75% loan to value, with rental cover of 125% for a company and 140% for an individual, rising to 140% and 155% on an HMO of more than six bedrooms. A first-time landlord can borrow up to £500,000 across up to four units with an income of at least £60,000, provided they do not intend to live in the property, and modern methods of construction are accepted where the scheme is BOPAS approved. Portfolio Edge, announced in May 2025, pairs a two-year fixed term loan from £3m with a bridge from £1m, the bridge capped at half the total and up to 20% commercial assets allowed.

Bridging is set out in the bank's March 2026 key features document. Development exit runs from £100,000 to £25m at up to 75% loan to value, land from £100,000 to £10m at up to 65%, light refurbishment with self-funded works to 75% of gross development value, and heavy refurbishment with a works facility for 100% of costs to 70% of GDV, all over 6 to 24 months. The product page lists refurb-to-let, developer exit, refurb-to-term, traditional bridges and auction purchases, and a separate announcement describes heavy refurbishment budgets of up to £1m drawn in up to five agreed tranches in arrears. Automated valuations are available to 65% on residential assets and second charges are accepted as extra security.

Development finance funds residential schemes, student accommodation and mixed use projects for experienced developers up to 65% of gross development value over 12 to 36 months. A commercial line covers pre-sold and pre-let commercial developments on the same terms, and development exit finance lends up to 70% of GDV on recently completed stock, against evidence of sales rates, to give time to sell. The annual report puts the development book at £601.9m at the end of 2025, up 65% in the year, mostly sourced direct.

Who Hampshire Trust Bank lends to

The bridging criteria row is the widest published statement of who HTB takes: individuals and limited companies including new and existing SPVs and LLPs, UK residents, expats and foreign nationals, first-time landlords and first-time buyers, portfolio landlords, trusts and offshore entities, and share purchases, with no limit on the number of borrowers, directors or shareholders and complex ownership structures accepted. Security can be residential, commercial or mixed use, including HMOs, multi-unit blocks, student accommodation and holiday lets, in England, Scotland and Wales.

The buy-to-let page names limited companies, expats, trusts and offshore entities and foreign nationals, and the criteria announcements add first-time landlords on the terms above and portfolio landlords with no maximum portfolio size. Development finance is for well-established UK SME housebuilders and property developers, and the annual report says that division lends throughout England and Wales and is expanding into new regions.

HTB's footer states it is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the PRA and the FCA under Financial Services Register number 204601, and the entry can be read at register.fca.org.uk. Through us, lending secured on property is for UK limited companies and LLPs only, on business and commercial terms, however wide the bank's own list of borrower types runs.

How an application runs

Mortgages and bridging are intermediary products. The specialist mortgages page describes a regional business development manager and lending manager on the front end, then a case manager, an underwriter and completions staff, with applications submitted through the bank's PUMA portal. On bridging the page says the bank aims for 21 days from application to completion, offers dual legal representation, and assigns a case manager and underwriter to each file; a minimum packaging list is published for the initial submission.

Development finance is handled by a team reached on 020 7862 6278 between 9am and 5pm on weekdays, and the annual report says most of that lending comes direct from the market rather than through brokers. The bank publishes a map of recent development fundings and case studies on completed schemes.

Bring the case to us and it is read against HTB and every other panel lender writing that product before a single form is filled in, after which a named case handler packages it for the bank's portal. We arrange; HTB decides. Enquiring does not affect your credit score.

Hampshire Trust Bank on our panel

At September 2026 we held 40 live HTB products: 22 buy-to-let mortgages sized £100,000 to £5m, 9 commercial mortgages sized £100,000 to £5m over 30 years, 7 bridging products sized £100,000 to £25m over 1 month to 2 years, and 2 development finance products sized £1m to £35m over 1 month to 3 years. Spans are per category, never blended, describe our panel on that date rather than an offer, and change as the bank adds or withdraws products.

To place HTB among its peers, at September 2026 we counted 14 lender brands on the panel with a live buy-to-let product for expats, 9 for foreign nationals and 20 for holiday lets; 35 funding heavy refurbishment on a bridge, 22 taking a second charge and 26 using automated valuations; and 27 lending on planning gain in development. Those are brand counts with at least one live product, not HTB's own criteria.