A couple of remortgage conveyancing questions

steve866

I am remortgaging to Santander. My offer has been approved and Enact has started the conveyancing process. Is there a rough timescale I should expect for the funds to be released (I am borrowing additional funds). My current mortgage is with Natwest and it is a freehold house.

I will need to pay an ERC of around 5k to Natwest if the remortgage takes place before 1st October (which is my intention). Whilst I don't plan on doing this, in theory if my offer is valid for 6 months, could I wait until 1st October to complete the remortgage to avoid the fee? How risky is it that the offer could get pulled? 

Thanks

dimbo61

So you have already been approved for the Remortgage with Santander ?
They have offered you a mortgage deal which is valid for 6 months and fixed at the rate you applied for ?
Will this run out after the 1st of October ?
You need to speak to Enact to see if you can have the 1st of October as the date you start the new mortgage with Santander 

K_S

steve866 said:

I am remortgaging to Santander. My offer has been approved and Enact has started the conveyancing process. Is there a rough timescale I should expect for the funds to be released (I am borrowing additional funds). My current mortgage is with Natwest and it is a freehold house.

I will need to pay an ERC of around 5k to Natwest if the remortgage takes place before 1st October (which is my intention). Whilst I don't plan on doing this, in theory if my offer is valid for 6 months, could I wait until 1st October to complete the remortgage to avoid the fee? How risky is it that the offer could get pulled? 

Thanks

@steve866 Your mortgage offer should mention a 'complete by' date.

Santander offers aren't valid for a true 6 months, they usually expire based on the product end date. Currently, that appears to be 2 Sep 2022, so I would be surprised if your offer was valid until October.

steve866

Thanks both I will look into the paperwork on the offer, it was more out of curiosity than anything. Any guesses on how long the convayencing might take? Thanks 

Thrugelmir

The funds aren't going to be released until the remortgage is complete. If that's what you are wondering. 

K_S

steve866 said:

Thanks both I will look into the paperwork on the offer, it was more out of curiosity than anything. Any guesses on how long the convayencing might take? Thanks 

@steve866 Remortgage conveyancing for a freehold house should normally take no time at all as it normally involves just search indemnities in place of the actual searches.

However, in some remortgage cases (usually properties with something non-standard, eg: adjoining MOD land, large acreage, etc.) the lender can insist on full searches which can go on for a couple of months.

RelievedSheff

You need to check the date that the offer expires but in theory yes you can wait so that you don't need to pay the early repayment charges.

This is what we did last year when we remortgage to the Halifax. We had the mortgage offer approved in January but didn't complete the remortgage until late May to avoid early repayment charges.

The extra time between the offer being issued and the remortage completing also gave the conveyancing team plenty of time to sort out the paperwork so the switch was hassle free.