Mortgage offer renewal

Lorablue

Hello,

My husband and me are first time buyers and are looking to purchase new build apartment that is due to be completed in July or August 2015.

We have reserved a slot and need to exchange contracts and pay deposit within 28 days and now we are looking for mortgage offer. We have mortgage broker to help us and he was able to find great deal with Halifax with offer valid for 9 months. However at the last moment Halifax wanted us to increase the deposit and unfortunately we are unable to do it

So the search continues but it seems that all other banks are only have 6 months offers which means somewhere in May we will have to extend. We might get a mortgage with Barclays Woolwich or HSBC but we are a bit unsecured about doing the deal without mortgage offer fully covering the building period.

Do you know if it could be a trouble to extend the mortgage offer? Is it too risky to go for 6 months only when realistically we need 9?

Sorry for basic questions but we are relatively new in UK and really need help. Our mortgage broker is very slow to reply and is not very helpful at this stage.

Thank you!

OneEngland

Pretty much all lenders including Halifax will only offer a mortgage offer on new build for 6 months, the survey is usually only valid for 6 months too.

Its becoming more common place with developers to release plots over 6 months before estimated completion and I am finding most High street lenders will accommodate with little effort. It may mean a new application is needed (the developer should cover addition costs) or could just be a quick call and product change.

I recommend to my clients in your circumstances to add any fees to the loan to avoid additional costs in case a new app is needed

Lorablue

Thank you, OneEngland! Do you think it is relatively safe to go for 6M mortgage offer? Could there be issues with extension? Maybe it make sense to consult independent adviser (our was recommended by the builder)?

Mortgage_Mark_2

Halifax are a piece of cake.

Broker logs onto online system - chooses new product - offer produced.

It's that simple.

They never, ever extend an offer, it always has to be on a 'current' product, however.

Other lenders usually don't have an issue with extending an offer, albeit similar restrictions on products.

With this being a new build, especially if your broker has informed their BDM, it should be relatively straight forward to get an extended offer.

kingstreet

Current Halifax newbuild panel exclusives have a 30 June drawdown deadline anyway. The last batch of products was launched on 10 October, so we should be due another batch soon, which will end on 31 August.