LendInvest review 2026, buy-to-let to £2m, bridging to £30m and development to £20m

Who LendInvest are

The group about page dates the business to 2008, when Montello Bridging Finance was founded as an offline bridging lender. It took the proposition online in 2012 with £30m of investors' capital, dates the birth of LendInvest itself to 2013, passed £300m of completed loans in 2015 and £500m of funding in 2016, launched buy-to-let in 2017 with backing from Citigroup, raised £30.5m in a Series C round in 2018 and in 2019 completed what it describes as the UK's first fintech securitisation, £259m of buy-to-let loans. Originations passed £3bn in 2020. The FY26 figures on the same page are more than £9bn lent since inception, £5.48bn of funds under management, £3.82bn of assets under management and a record £1.44bn of annual originations.

Companies House shows LendInvest plc (08146929) incorporated on 17 July 2012 as LendInvest Limited and renamed on 5 July 2021, registered at 4-8 Maple Street, London W1T 5HD. The footer names the lending companies beneath it: buy-to-let is provided by LendInvest BTL Limited (10845703), unregulated short-term lending by LendInvest Bridge Limited (11651573), development finance by LendInvest Development Limited (07826640) and regulated lending by LendInvest Loans Limited (09971600), which the footer states is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under FRN 737073. On 21 September 2026 the FCA Register showed LendInvest Loans Limited as Authorised since 28 December 2016, and the entry can be read at register.fca.org.uk. A buy-to-let or bridge to a limited company is unregulated lending, which is why those sit in their own companies.

What LendInvest lends

Buy-to-let is the largest line on our panel and the most tightly specified in the criteria guide dated 29 June 2026. The minimum loan is £50,000, the term is 7 to 30 years, security is a first charge on an investment property in England, Wales or Scotland and repayment is interest only. A standard property or small HMO goes to £2m at up to 70% LTV, £1.5m at 75% and £1m at 80%; small and large multi-unit blocks go to £3m at up to 65%. Houses, flats, maisonettes, HMOs, new-build, multi-unit freehold blocks, flats in blocks up to 5 storeys and, by referral, high-rise to 10 storeys are all listed, and a semi-commercial product at up to 75% LTV was added for individuals and limited companies. The loan can be used to purchase or remortgage, including from an existing bridge, and additional capital raising is permitted where it is declared.

Bridging runs to £30m. The criteria guide dated 4 June 2026 splits it in two. Unregulated bridging takes residential, semi-commercial and commercial property and land, with or without planning, for purchase, refinance or capital raise, on a first charge over terms of up to 18 months at up to 85% gross LTV, with serviced, retained or rolled interest. Regulated bridging is residential only, at up to 75% gross LTV over up to 12 months, on a first charge or a combined first and second charge across two securities, with rolled interest. The portal offers Regulated Bridge, Auction, Bridge-to-Let, Development Exit, Residential Bridging, Commercial Bridging and Refurbishment as enquiry types; a Refurbishment Bridge through the portal goes to 73% net LTV, and the Refurbishment GDV product, handled off the portal, funds works to 70% of gross development value in up to 3 drawdowns.

Development finance sits in the LendInvest Capital segment and is written for experienced SME developers: £1m to £20m over terms of up to 24 months at up to 70% loan to GDV and 85% loan to cost, for ground-up schemes, heavy refurbishment, conversions and new-build, in England, Scotland and Wales. The page describes planning gain counted in the day one land loan, an in-house chartered building surveyor, a 24-hour interim drawdown process and a product path from pre-planning bridge through development to development exit within one lender.

Who LendInvest lends to

On buy-to-let the borrower is a UK individual, a limited company or an LLP, with a company's SIC code required to relate to property management, investment or development and new SPVs accepted. Applicants must have a 3-year UK residential history and a permanent right to reside, be aged 21 to 85 at the end of the term and number no more than 2 on an application. Portfolio landlords are underwritten with a full portfolio schedule, portfolios above £5m go to a business development manager, and expat products are available to British citizens living overseas.

Bridging is wider. The guide sets a minimum age of 21, no maximum where the exit is a sale, up to 4 applicants on an unregulated case, and asks for a realistic exit on every loan; where the exit is the sale of the security no proof of income is needed. Individuals should have been resident in the UK for 36 months and be UK tax resident, with foreign nationals and expats considered at underwriter discretion. UK companies give full personal guarantees from directors and any shareholder above 25%, and non-UK companies from the principal or beneficiary. Structural works, conversions and HMO conversions need one previous project behind the borrower.

Property-secured finance arranged through us is for UK limited companies and LLPs, which fits the limited company and LLP lanes LendInvest already runs. A regulated bridge on an individual's own home is written by LendInvest Loans Limited and reaches the lender by a different route.

How an application runs

Every product is intermediary-led and runs through the LendInvest portal. A bridging enquiry is 10 clicks to heads of terms, the guide says, with enquiries reviewed in minutes, mandated business development managers and direct access to underwriters. An automated valuation runs on eligible purchase cases, single-occupancy standard homes worth £100,000 to £400,000 outside London or £700,000 inside it, at up to 75% gross LTV, and the broker chooses between the AVM and a physical valuation. The steps after that are an application through the portal, underwriter review, valuation and legal quotes, the undertaking, and completion.

Buy-to-let applications go in with the portfolio schedule, the latest SA302 and tax overview for each applicant, evidence of deposit on a purchase and a bank statement for the direct debit, with Open Banking used where the applicant permits it. The service levels published on 15 September 2026 put a decision in principle review, packaging and valuation instruction, valuation assessment and documentation review at 24 hours each on a fully packaged case, and an offer stays valid for 90 days. On development finance the page gives indicative terms within 24 hours and in-house credit approval within 48 hours of submission.

Through us the security, the borrower and the exit go to LendInvest and to the rest of the panel in one package, put together by a named case handler. We arrange the finance; LendInvest underwrites and decides. Enquiring does not affect your credit score.

Our panel and LendInvest

At September 2026 our catalogue held 44 live LendInvest products: 31 buy-to-let mortgages sized £50,000 to £2m, 12 bridging products sized £75,000 to £30m over 1 month to 18 months, and 1 development finance product sized £1m to £20m over 1 month to 2 years. Each span is per category and describes the products on our panel at that date, not an offer, and panel composition changes.

For scale, at September 2026 we counted 26 lender brands on the panel with a live buy-to-let product for HMOs, 25 for multi-unit blocks, 14 for expats and 20 lending on Scottish security, and 26 bridging lenders using automated valuations. LendInvest's guides place it in every one of those groups. The counts are one brand per line with at least one live product, and they say nothing about which lender a given case suits.