Does this sound right? Britannia mortgage

pamelab21

We have decided to market our house after Xmas, we are currently in a fixed deal with Britannia with another 3 years to run. I have gone through the first phone 'interview' and been given a decision in principle of what we could borrow up to.
The next stage apparently is an interview over the phone with an advisor and they tell you to set aside 2.5 hours for this to ensure that we could borrow a certain amount.
However they will not arrange this appointment for me until we have our house on the market and have an offer on it? Does this sound right? I don't want to sell our house and then they won't lend us more to buy what we would like and then we are forced to move with nowhere to go? She also told me that it can take 4-6 weeks to arrange and it could be that if we get an offer someone may want to move in within 6 weeks....... I am confused as to how this would work. She was taking About valuations having to come through but we are in Scotland and need to have a home report before we can market but surely that would not apply? She wasn't sure.......I have called on two occasions and feel that no one knows what they are talking about!
They are also saying that we have a portable mortgage and the redemption fee is chargeable even if we sell and buy on the same day, they will take the fee and then refund it to us within 6 months.
I see no reason why we would be refused anything and I have told no lies at the decision in principle stage.
Also I thought that if we were to offer on another property we have to have a mortgage in place to prove we can afford it but the way they want us to do this we would have nothing?

Thrugelmir

Until you've a property you wish to purchase then you are unable to apply for a mortgage. As the property itself forms part of the process. Not only your ability to afford a notional mortgage amount. Your mortgage application is a declaration of your current circumstances. Mortgage offers have varying degrees of shelf life depending on the lender or the product. After which they lapse.

amnblog

The of joys of dealing direct to Lender.

I find it difficult to appreciate why Britannia cannot tell you how much they will lend with this nonsense about having an offer on your current property - perhaps the person you spoke to was misinformed, or explained the process poorly.

I would check with them again and insist they help you in a more suitable way.

Good luck with it.