Mortgage 'holiday' between properties

mixu

Hi,

Wasn't sure how to search for this or where to post but as it's buying and selling-related here goes...

Obviously we need to speak to our mortgage provider (Abbey) but I just wondered if anyone had any experience?

Our buyer is ready to move into our flat, we're ready to move into the house we've offered on but our vendor's purchase has fallen through. It's looking likely that we'll need to rent for a few months but we have a fixed-rate mortgage for another year with a rather hefty redemption fee.

We're happy to continue with the mortgage once we move but does anyone know if it's possible to take a few months' 'holiday' from the mortgage whilst we rent somewhere — between sale and purchase? Or indeed look for somewhere else... Or just pay the redemption fee and be done with it. We have a 10-month old daughter so it makes things a little trickier.

Advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks

DVardysShadow

We can only guess. Abbey will tell you for certain.

scooter_chick

I'm with Abbey, but on a tracker. They have told me that to port my mortgage I can have a gap of up to 3 months, but no longer.

Milliewilly

mixu wrote: »

Hi,

Wasn't sure how to search for this or where to post but as it's buying and selling-related here goes...

Obviously we need to speak to our mortgage provider (Abbey) but I just wondered if anyone had any experience?

Our buyer is ready to move into our flat, we're ready to move into the house we've offered on but our vendor's purchase has fallen through. It's looking likely that we'll need to rent for a few months but we have a fixed-rate mortgage for another year with a rather hefty redemption fee.

We're happy to continue with the mortgage once we move but does anyone know if it's possible to take a few months' 'holiday' from the mortgage whilst we rent somewhere — between sale and purchase? Or indeed look for somewhere else... Or just pay the redemption fee and be done with it. We have a 10-month old daughter so it makes things a little trickier.

Advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Why not get the vendor to rent they are holding up the chain not you??

The lenders are normally flexible if you want to move your mortgage as they will get more out of you in the long term by keeping your business than taking the redemption fee a limit of 6 months is usually applied. Thats not long when you have to have COMPLETED by 6 months on the new property. You would have to check with Abbey to be sure and get it in writing not just from a call centre operative. If you are not on a very good rate it *may* be better to cancel and take out a new product but you would have to check with an IFA for that.

Why does your 10 month old daughter make things tricky with your mortgage???

delmar39

As mentioned above you can 'port' your existing mortgage to the new property to avoid redemption fees. It will be classed as a new application so you'll be charged an admin fee plus valuation fee. If you're borrowing more than the existing mortgage you'll need two products. If for some reason we sold but didn't buy the house that we've put an offer on, the ported mortgage would be available for six months, but we'd be charged the redemption penalty for paying off the mortgage, until we buy, at which point we'll get the fees back.

I hope this makes sense. In summary, you should be able to port your mortgage and set this up, but will be charged the redemption penalty until the mortgage transfers and you begin paying it back. If it's a straight transfer i.e. you sell and buy at the same time on the completion date the mortgage would simply port to your new house with no redemption charge.

mixu

Thanks. Unfortunately the vendors are not prepared to rent and we're considering looking for somewhere else.

We've already had the mortgage agreed, porting the existing loan and an additional top-up —valuation, admin fees, etc. all paid. But if there's the possibility of a six month period that might work.

*Our daughter doesn't affect the mortgage — just means we're not as flexible as we once were!