Mortgage offers and timescale

makeitstop

Hi all,

Apologies if this is a bit of an unanswerable question, but I'll ask it anyway.

Is there a typical time limit placed on mortgage offers, or does this vary significantly from one lender to another. I have had it mentioned to me that once an offer is granted, that a customer has three months / six months to take up and use that offer, but, have no clue as to how accurate this info is.

Any views / knowledge out there on this one.?

mrsammyp

For most high street lenders it appears to be 6 months...

makeitstop

mrsammyp wrote: »

For most high street lenders it appears to be 6 months...

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I've been told this by some, but three months by others.

I don't really know where the truth is though, and on speaking with a London and Country rep, was told they would not be able to say until they run through some details.

I would have thought it was a fairly standard timeframe, but apparently it might not be.

Any other views welcome.

kingstreet

It varies from lender to lender.

You may also find the product drawdown deadline and mortgage offer expiry dates differ.

makeitstop

kingstreet wrote: »

It varies from lender to lender.

You may also find the product drawdown deadline and mortgage offer expiry dates differ.

Thanks KS,

So, if someone was looking to purchase a new build, when would they apply for a mortgage.? My understanding of it was that an offer was open for six months, as that timeframe is when new build properties appear to be released for sale in relation to date of completion.

It's a little confusing, as slight variation to projected timescales to complete new houses may well mean people are out of time with their mortgage offer no.?

If someone wanted to buy a house due for completion at the end of this year for example, when would they typically apply for a mortgage for that property.?

kingstreet

Like I said, it varies from lender to lender.

If our build timescales are such the property won't be completed before the offer expires, we don't use lenders where a new application will be required.

Otherwise, we will talk to the builder to see if we can delay submitting an application until we are sure the build will be finalised within the offer period.

You cannot generalise about this. Every case is going to be different and you will need to plan carefully with your builder and broker as most builders want exchange of contracts within 28 days of reservation and you will need a mortgage offer in hand to be able to do that. You can't do that if you aren't going to apply for the mortgage for three months...

cressey1984

Most new build properties are not available to reserve unless they are going to be completed within 6 months, that is because typically most lenders will give you a mortgage offer for 6 months.

libf

Barratt head office put my property on for reservation with 6 months to go until the original build date, despite the site running behind. As such all my paperwork says reservation by June 26th but as build completion is now Dec/Jan/Feb I won't be doing my mortgage application until the end of July. Sales person is fine with this, although head office send everything out with June 26th on.