Kensington Mortgage application timescale

Cbolton1987

The valuation fee was taken 2 days after we applied...then on the 5th week valuation was done and offer was 3 days later...just bare with it...it'll come

[Deleted User]

Recently had a application through with Kensington, We have had the hard and soft search's done, the valuation has been booked also, is this usually a good sign? This has been around 5 days since application to valuation so far.

Also, people that have had their offers, do they do extra hard/soft search? as the two searches they did last week have made my credit score drop like a tonne weight 

BlueJ94

07/03/2024 - DIP same day

08/03/2024 - asked for lots of documents regarding some info on OH bank statements etc 

12/03/2024 - Phone call for Surveyor to come visit 
22/03/2024 - mortgage offer
10/07/2024 - got our completion date (19th June) 

[Deleted User]

BlueJ94 said:

07/03/2024 - DIP same day

08/03/2024 - asked for lots of documents regarding some info on OH bank statements etc 

12/03/2024 - Phone call for Surveyor to come visit 
22/03/2024 - mortgage offer
10/07/2024 - got our completion date (19th June) 

Wow 4 months almost from beginning to end?

we had the valuation done on the property we’re buying today.

so hopefully things are moving quickly.

BlueJ94

[Deleted User] said:

BlueJ94 said:

07/03/2024 - DIP same day

08/03/2024 - asked for lots of documents regarding some info on OH bank statements etc 

12/03/2024 - Phone call for Surveyor to come visit 
22/03/2024 - mortgage offer
10/07/2024 - got our completion date (19th June) 

Wow 4 months almost from beginning to end?

we had the valuation done on the property we’re buying today.

so hopefully things are moving quickly.

Mainly our landlord took ages that's why it took longer 

CookandClean123

hi had an application declined after valuation as property came back at £0 due to a tree in the front garden Kensington have said that we can get a tree survey done however there is no guarantee. Has anyone had a similar issue. 

MoneySaver_1978

Hi our application to Kensington was submitted yesterday lunchtime and a hard search was done sometime in the afternoon. What timescales are you currently experiencing? We have reserved a new build and the developers want to complete on 24th October!

Houseyboo

Hiya 

If anyone is reading this is Nov 2024. I have applied to Kensington due to adverse credit and being 1 year self employed (limited company) 

10/10/24 - mortgage in principle
21/10/24 - Mortgage application submitted 
22/10/24 - Information requested to start application  (normal stuff)
24/10/24 - extra information requested (to see rent payments, broker asked for filtered bank statement) 
25/10/24 - above information submitted
29/10/24 - valuation done 
08/11/24 - Kensington advised my income from bank statements don’t quite match my SA302 and I need to send more information regarding my info. More info sent same day

Now I wait again..

anyone here 2024? 

Houseyboo

MoneySaver_1978 said:

Hi our application to Kensington was submitted yesterday lunchtime and a hard search was done sometime in the afternoon. What timescales are you currently experiencing? We have reserved a new build and the developers want to complete on 24th October!

How did you get on? @moneysaver_1978

ole_miss87

Hi all, 

Wanted to share our experience with Kensington so it might help some others with their journey, especially when it feels like maybe you're not making progress.

Quick background for us - We're a couple with Joint income of a little over £100k and own another property which is currently let (owned by one of us before we met and then let out when we moved in to rented accommodation together) One applicant had some adverse credit which is all settled and under 10k total but still on the credit file for another 18 months or so hence needing to choose Kensington. We've been renting for 3 years with no issues with rent etc. 

We have been working with a mortgage broker, so that may have helped some of the timescales. Our experience went something like this;

1. We had an agreement in principle within 1 day of submitting the initial affordability information. 
2. We provided bank statements, payslips and a full application was made and all information submitted, hard searches appeared on our credit file within 48 hours of submitting our application.
3. After 3-4 days, Kensington came back to ask for previous employment info (payslips) for one applicant who had recently changed jobs and also asked for a proof of deposit (an official statement from savings bank)
4. We provided the documents above and then paid our valuation fee 2 days after that. We didn't hear anything for another 3-4 days.
3. Over the course of the next 4 working weeks (20 working days total) we were asked for, in no particular order

- an email address for our rental company so Kensington could email to obtain a reference from our current landlord (we'd already provided proof of rent payments via our bank statements) We didn't want our landlord to know, as we didn't them to give us notice if the mortgage didn't happen. We were told that Kensington would just email the agent a set of quesrtions.
- an employment reference for one applicant who had moved jobs within the last 4 months (we had already provided the employment contract and probation sign off letter) I don't know what this included, but I did find a specific HR person in my company and gave Kensington their info, as we were told Kensington would probably just email a random 'contact us' email otherwise.
- copy of passports
- proof of deposit origin (trail of savings building up or where the money came from)
- last months mobile phone bill for applicant with adverse credit
- Because we'd ticked into the start of a new month, the next round of payslips for both applicants.

The document requests came in dribs in drabs on occasion, so we did feel like we'd submitted everything but then got a new request and had to 'start over'.

5. After feeling like they were seriously questioning whether to lend, we then got word that the lender had what they need and were going to book the valuation. To our surprise, the valuation was booked for the next day!

6. To our even greater surprise, we received our mortgage offer THE SAME DAY as the valuation. Our mortgage advisor provided an electronic version and we got the postal version a few days later.

So, whilst the requests can feel frustrating at the time - especially as they don't come all at once, it does appear that Kensington do the vast majority (if not all) of their underwriting up front and then once the valuation occurs, things move quite fast to offer whereas I've known previously, more requests to come after the valuation.

I know this is just our experience, but for anyone in what feels like an endless cycle of requests or multiple weeks since paying for a valuation, this might help you.

One word of advice, was that we were very proactive - We provided all documents within 3-4 hours of being asked for them. If you're reading this and just starting with Kensington, it might be worth making sure you have some of the above mentioned things ready. Looking back, it was probably 6 working weeks in total from application to offer which isn't that long but if it takes a day or two to provide them information, that would easily be another 2-3 weeks time.

Hope this helps all !!