Joint Name on Mortgage

Sandeze

My partner has the mortgage in her name which was taken out 4 years ago with the Halifax, we decided to remortgage and this time do it in joint names. My partner contacted Halifax to ask if there would be any redemption fees and they have said £115 for an administrator costs. They have suggested for me to be added to the mortgage and it will cost around £100 and they will try to give us a better offer. My question is this, does anyone know of a way I can be added to the mortgage but for free or cheaper than £100? We are also going to try other companies but not sure who to turn to even though I have read the article on Mortagages it still seems pretty complicated, I relise that if I choose a different lender then I can go through L&C so that I do not incure costs but I am not sure where to go for monthly mortgage cost. Please can anyone help?
Regards.
J.Sandeze

margaretclare

Hi

I think these administration costs are fairly standard - a similar thing happened to us when we considered remortgaging in joint names via Abbey. What we did in fact was to go for equity release via a lifetime mortgage instead, and again, there were these administration costs which were about what you've been quoted.

Aunty Margaret

herbiesjp

To add someone else will incur a cost - please note that if you are looking to re-mortgage to a lender that is ofering "free legals" this will not include the payment of this fee. The ledners will only re-mortgage on a like-for-like basis, so even with free legals the solicitors will charge you for this.

Also be careful, as the solicitors that some lenders use to offer the free legals, will not do the process at all if there is any additional work to do.

Debt_Free_Chick

Adding someone to the mortgage is not that simple. As a mortgage is simply a loan, secured on the property, the person being added to the mortgage also has to jointly own the property. So the title to the property will need to be re-registered to joint owners. As the legal title to the property is being changed, this is achieved by the conveyancing process.

So ... there is probably as much work in "adding someone to the mortgage" as there is remortgaging. I rather suspect that Halifax have offered you the opportunity to remortgage under a deal that pays your survey & legal fees, in return for a £100 application fee. You should get full details of their offer in writing, so you can compare it with others.

All in all, I'd say £100 for this kind of change is actually very, very good value for money.

HTH

Fairdo_2

Totally agree with Debt Free Chick here.

You won't get a better price. In fact it is probably better to do it now before you go through a full legal Remortgage in future.

Sandeze

Thanks for all your comments, so can anyone advise as to whats best, do we stay with Halifax and add me to the mortgage and try to get a better deal from them or ring around for a remortgage?
regards.

Fairdo_2

I would get your name added now and then check what they have once this has gone through, but look around aswell. (Or get a Mortgage Broker to do the work for you on the Remortgage comparisons).

Big_Butts

...that sounds a bit cheap to me !!

I'm remortgaging with the Halifax and adding my girlfriend onto the mortgage and they've quoted £200.00 + VAT = £235.00

Who is your solicitor with the Halifax , I might ask if I can go with them and safe myself £135.00.

herbiesjp

I would look at what other options are available as Halifax rates to existing customers are not that fantastic