VAT bridging finance
How Fast Can VAT Funding Complete?
PropertyVAT Team · Updated · 2 min read
The honest version of the 48-hour answer: yes, but it measures the part of the process that was never the bottleneck.
What the 48 hours actually covers
It covers the lender's process — assessing the reclaim, issuing terms, completing their checks, and releasing funds to your solicitor.
It does not cover:
- Getting the buying entity VAT registered
- Notifying an option to tax and waiting for HMRC acknowledgement
- Your solicitor establishing the VAT position from the contract
- Resolving whether the sale is a TOGC
Those steps run on HMRC's timetable and your advisers' timetable. They are measured in weeks, and no lender can shorten them.
The realistic timeline
| Stage | Typical duration | Can it be accelerated? |
|---|---|---|
| Confirming the VAT position from the contract | Days | Yes — ask early |
| VAT registration for the buying entity | Weeks | Not meaningfully |
| Option to tax notification and acknowledgement | Weeks | Not meaningfully |
| Lender assessment and terms | 24–48 hours | Yes |
| Drawdown at completion | Same day | Yes |
Read that table as a warning about sequencing rather than a promise about speed. Two of the five stages dominate, and both are outside anyone's control but HMRC's.
How to actually get to 48 hours
Work backwards from completion and front-load everything that is slow:
- Register the buying entity for VAT the week the deal is agreed. Not when completion is scheduled. This is the step that decides whether fast funding is even possible.
- Get the VAT position in writing from your solicitor, from the contract or legal pack — not from the agent's particulars.
- Notify any option to tax immediately if your position depends on one.
- Agree funding in principle early, so the lender's work is done before you need the money.
- Keep the pack current. Contract, VAT number, option to tax acknowledgement, solicitor details, completion date.
Done in that order, the final 48 hours is genuinely just a drawdown.
The auction case
Auctions make this sharper, because the completion window is fixed and the deposit is at risk. The sequence has to start before you bid:
- Legal pack reviewed, VAT position confirmed — before bidding
- VAT registration under way — before bidding
- Funding agreed in principle — before bidding
A buyer who wins at auction and only then starts VAT registration has a problem that no lender can solve inside the completion window.
When speed genuinely is the constraint
Sometimes the VAT appears late through no fault of the buyer — most often when an intended TOGC fails close to completion. The facts change, the treatment changes, and 20% lands on the completion statement with days to spare.
That is the scenario fast VAT funding exists for, and where the 48-hour figure earns its keep. It works because the buyer in that situation is usually already VAT registered — the TOGC required it.
Which is the pattern throughout: the cases that fund fastest are the ones where the slow steps were done long before anyone was in a hurry.
This guide is general information, not financial advice. Timescales vary by case, lender and HMRC processing.
Frequently asked questions
- Is 48 hours realistic or a marketing figure?
- It is achievable, but it measures the lending process only. It assumes your VAT registration is already issued and the VAT position is evidenced. Those prerequisites routinely take weeks.
- What is the single biggest cause of delay?
- VAT registration. You cannot normally reclaim VAT if the buying entity was not registered at the point of purchase, and registration cannot be compressed to fit a completion date.
- Can funding be arranged before I have a completion date?
- Yes, and it is a good idea. Agreeing terms in principle early means the only remaining step at completion is the drawdown, which is where the 48-hour figure becomes real.
- What if completion is in three days and nothing is prepared?
- It depends entirely on your VAT registration. If the entity is registered, there is a realistic path. If it is not, the problem is with HMRC's timetable, not the lender's.
Related guides
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