Remortgaging Help to Buy without paying off loan

StephanieW

Hi, 

We bought a new build in 2018 using the help to buy and had an original 2 year fixed rate that's now coming to an end.
We looked at remortgaging to a different lender, as switching to a new deal with our current (Halifax) is still an extra £170 a month. I called Natwest to do an agreement in principle and they advised we need to get permission from help to buy to switch to a different lender.

When I called them to check, they advised I needed to send the following; 

•             An administration fee of £115

•             A copy of the Formal Mortgage Offer from the 1st charge mortgage lender

•             A copy of the Mortgage Redemption Statement from the 1st charge mortgage lender

•             A copy of new Mortgage Offer

•             A copy of the New Mortgage Lenders Deed of Postponement (DOP)

•             A completed Solicitors Details Form which can be found attached -page 13 & 14 of the Customer Information Pack

I'm unsure about instructing a solicitor again as I feel this will be pricey, along with paying them a £115 admin fee. We were never advised of having to do any of this when buying originally. 

I guess my questions are;

Has anyone switched to a new lender without instructing a solicitor and done it themselves? 

Isn't there someone who should have advised me of this when we originally bought? (Help to buy agent, solicitor, mortgage advisor etc?) 

Thanks in advance!   

Whats_your_forte

As part of the remortgage, Natwest will probably give you a free solicitor to carry out the legal work. Check the illustration. Also, some of their deals offer cashbacks also.

Yes, you have the extra payment for the help to buy people but out of 6 things mentioned, only one relates to an admin fee. The others are just to supply documents. Postponement of 2nd charges are usually this sort of price.

All the paperwork at the outset confirmed you had a 2 year deal and if you didn't do anything, then it would go to the Halifax SVR. You have quite rightly looked at your options hence where you are today with either staying at the Halifax or looking elsewhere

StephanieW

Thanks for the quick reply. 
I was unaware of the free solicitor being an option from Natwest so I will definitely ask this in my appointment. 

With regards to the 2 year deal, this was obviously made clear at the end being on SVR, what I'm annoyed about is most people I know have swapped lenders at some point during their mortgage - it was never made clear that if we wanted to swap lenders we would have to do this extra paperwork/seek permission from help to buy, is this not something that should be mentioned by mortgage advisor/solicitor? (I may be expecting too much just seems this would be a big thing to let people know about!) 

We also planned to add an extra £5000 on to our mortgage for home improvements (garden) but from what I can see I don't think we are allowed to do this on HTB - am I correct? 

Thanks again! 

Whats_your_forte

Natwest will only consider like for like remortgages on Help to Buy

Might also be worth speaking to a Broker as some of the broker Natwest exclusive deals come with a £500 cashback and a free solicitor.

Everybody has to do paperwork for a remortgage so nothing different and as said, they are simple documents to put together. If you less the £500 cashback from the £115 fee to be paid, £385 to fill some forms in AND save £170 per month is good money! Seeking permission from H2B would have been all over the original paperwork. 

Good luck

kingstreet

Page 24 of the HTB Buyer's Guide (which is issued with the Authority To Proceed email, as well as being available on the HTB site) lists the fees involved in different post-sales activities and provides a link to the website of Target, the post-sales HTB Agent. You can see the latest version (from Feb 2018) here;-
https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/equity-loan/equity-loans/

swaledale_one

If you spend £5k on property improvements would it not become an issue when selling as the government will take a slice of the potential increase in the value to the property? the only way round it could be to get the house revalued at todays prices before and after the improvements that way when selling later on or more importantly buying out of the H2B and the government wants there 25% of the sell/value price you may be able to challenge it.

If it make you feel any better I just recently found out that my mortgage interest is paid annually which means Ive been paying interest on capitol that I have already paid for throughout the year.