Sale taking ages. Current Offer expires this month. Should I get another offer?

jawstress

Hi Moneysavers,

We are in the process of a purchase that has now taken 5 months. Our mortgage offer expires on 31/05/2013 and I am now losing confidence completion will happen before this date. With mortgage rates lower than they were 6 months ago, it's perhaps easy to see this as no bad thing. Indeed, our broker has said she can easily get us a new (lower) rate with the Nationwide, and this would save us almost £800 over the 5 year term. The implication being, they already have all our paperwork, so it's just a matter of paying the £99 booking fee and it's a done deal. But what are the implications of getting a new mortgage offer? Specifically:

• What are the implications for the solicitors? How much extra work is it for them and what could we expect in the way of extra fees?
• Do our brokers have the right to charge us another fee for arranging this mortgage?
• Are there any other implications (cost being the primary concern)?

Please see - forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4491221 - for details of why the sale has been delayed.

I've kept it brief, so let me know if further details are required?

Any insights much appreciated.

Many thanks.

kingstreet

If you change to a new product now, the offer will still expire on 31 May. The valuation also goes stale after sic months. You need to re-apply, paying a new valuation fee and a new booking fee, if the offer expiry date needs to be extended.

I'd speak to your solicitor before you do anything. You need to know the prospects of completion before 31/5 or the chances of it being with a week or two of that. IIRC Nationwide will give a two week extention, if completion is imminent.

Only then should you consider paying £99 for a product change.

jawstress

Thanks for the feedback.

It seems like it makes no difference to the solicitor if I change my mortgage offer then?

It also occurs that at this stage, I should hedge my bets and see what I can get in the way of another mortgage offer from a different provider..

The broker will change the current offer for free, so that would be a no-brainer, if it looks like completion is likely. (And I think an extra two weeks would save us, so that's also good to hear.)