Moving home

Our eligibility and affordability checker is a great place to find out. It will ask a few basic details and carry out a soft credit check. This check will not harm your credit rating. 

This is often referred to as an early redemption charge. Your mortgage offer will set out what this charge is, or you can contact your lender to find out.

Some mortgages can be moved to a new property which avoids having to pay any charge.

If your mortgage can’t be moved and you’re still in an early repayment charge period, you need to take these charges into account when working out your finances in moving home.

No, in this scenario you need to start again with a new mortgage in joint names on your new home.

Chains can be stressful. People can change their minds and, unless you’re buying or selling in Scotland, until you’ve exchanged contracts chains often fall apart.

If you have a buyer that’s keen to move into your property, but you can’t move into your new home for a while, it could be an option to move into temporary housing to make sure you don’t lose your buyer. This may not be practical but can work if you have friends or family with spare space that would be happy to have you stay for a while. If you’re buying a new build that isn’t going to be built for 6 months or longer you could also consider renting for this period.

Potentially, this is called a let to buy. You’ll need to have sufficient equity in your existing house, which is generally at least 25% of the value plus a higher enough rental income to satisfy the lender that it’s a viable option. You’ll then need enough funds left over for the deposit for your new house and be assessed as being able to afford the new mortgage. If you do this, there is extra tax to pay on your new house so this needs to be factored into your budget too.