A Devon family bought a 45-acre farm at auction with a bold vision: transform a barely habitable farmhouse into a high-specification family home. What started as an ambitious rebuild very nearly stalled halfway through, when the original building budget ran out and the project risked grinding to a complete halt. This is how we helped them secure the additional funding needed to finish the job — and move in before Christmas.
What was the situation?
The family purchased the property at auction — a substantial 45-acre site spread across three separate land registry titles. The main farmhouse was in a poor state of repair and needed extensive renovation before it would be fit to live in. Large outbuildings on the site added further complexity, both to how the property would be valued and to how the mortgage itself needed to be structured.
The husband’s income came from a combination of several PAYE contracts and a limited company. This mixed income profile meant the initial affordability assessment was considerably more involved than a standard employed case, requiring careful presentation to the lender to demonstrate a clear and sustainable income picture.
We arranged the original mortgage that allowed the family to complete the auction purchase and get building works underway.
What was the challenge?
Renovation work progressed well — arguably too well relative to the budget available. The family had stripped the farmhouse back to brick and brought in local specialist stonemasons to rebuild it to an exceptional standard. But as the quality and scope of the work increased, so did the cost, and the money ran out before the job was finished.
With building works stopped, the family faced a genuine risk: without further funding, the renovation would remain incomplete indefinitely, and there would be no home to move into for Christmas.
Adding to the complexity, the client had restructured the land holdings since the original mortgage was arranged. The titles had been split, and a large parcel of land had been placed into a SSAS pension as part of longer-term planning. This meant the security position underpinning the mortgage had materially changed, and any further lending would need to account for it.
What did we do?
Rather than starting from scratch with a new lender, we went back to the original lender and proposed a further advance — not the fastest due to the manual underwriting process of the lender, but the most straightforward route to releasing the funds needed.
Because the property had been transformed from a near-derelict farmhouse into a high-specification rebuild, a fresh valuation was required. We worked closely with the lender’s valuer to ensure they properly understood the quality of the work completed and the materials used, so the uplift in value was reflected accurately.
The title split and SSAS pension arrangement needed careful explanation. We provided the lender with updated title documentation and a clear breakdown of how the retained land would continue to serve as security for the mortgage, addressing any concerns before they became obstacles.
Because the husband’s income structure was already familiar to the lender from the original application, the affordability reassessment was more straightforward than it might otherwise have been. We also consolidated the debt the family had accumulated during the renovation, structuring the further advance to release sufficient capital to complete the remaining building works in one go.
What was the outcome?
The further advance of £150,000 was approved. The family secured the funding they needed to finish the renovation and complete their dream home.
The result: they can now look forward to spending their first Christmas in a fully completed property — once a derelict farmhouse, now transformed into a lasting family home, built to the standard they’d always envisioned, with their renovation debt consolidated into one manageable mortgage.
If you’ve purchased a property that needs more funding than you first planned, or your renovation has outgrown its original budget, we can help assess your options and approach the right lender with a properly structured case.
