How to protect myself from the lender pulling out at the last minute before completion?

TBagpuss

Normally, the conveyancing solicitor will disclose to the mortgage lender all relevant information so if you are anxious, you can ask your conveyancer to confirm that they have reported ask to the lender about anything that came up on the searches or survey. 

Where a lender withdraws an offer at a latte stage it's most commonly because of a late credit check (and I think they are more likely to do those where you have a small deposit so are borrowing a high proportion of the property value) so as long as you avioid taking out any other new credit, or running up big debts on existing credit cards and overdrafts, you should be OK 

pieroabcd

TBagpuss said:

Normally, the conveyancing solicitor will disclose to the mortgage lender all relevant information so if you are anxious, you can ask your conveyancer to confirm that they have reported ask to the lender about anything that came up on the searches or survey. 

It's exactly what I did.

Where a lender withdraws an offer at a latte stage it's most commonly because of a late credit check (and I think they are more likely to do those where you have a small deposit so are borrowing a high proportion of the property value) so as long as you avioid taking out any other new credit, or running up big debts on existing credit cards and overdrafts, you should be OK 

The ltv is lowish, so that shouldn't be a problem. No loans at all, either.

aoleks

this is one of those risks with an extremely low probability but a life devastating impact. you definitely don't want to take it. we opted for exchange/completion on the same day, but we also ensured the property was sound (no structural problems, no disputes, no japanese knotweed, basically nothing a lender would frown upon) AND made sure not to do anything that would have even the slightest impact on credit score. no new accounts, no movement of moneys between accounts, no closing of no longer needed accounts (e.g. ISA, it can wait until you're in the property), no new cards/cars etc.

housebuyer143

There is more risk to your seller of things going horribly wrong for THEM by you making a chain exchange and complete the same day than there is to you of getting your offer pulled.

Do not be surprised if the seller refuses.i would not exchange and complete the same day in a chain.. There are many more horror stories relating to that than for mortgage offers being pulled.

km1500

more common than you would think

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/mortgages/banks-pulling-mortgage-offers-costing-homebuyers-thousands-legal/

or even this very weekend in Telegraph money

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/katie-investigates/exchanged-420k-house-atom-bank-tried-pull-mortgage/

SusieT

km1500 said:

more common than you would think

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/mortgages/banks-pulling-mortgage-offers-costing-homebuyers-thousands-legal/

That is behind a wall for me, but if it is the one I think it is, the lenders were removing offers rather than agreed mortgages, so it was the products that were removed, those who had mortgages agreed were ok 

Gavin83

Just as long as you aren't borrowing to the very limit of your financial ability and you haven't had a major change in financial circumstances (lost job, bought a car on credit, etc) then you'll be fine.

Personally in your sellers shoes I'd refuse the same day exchange and completion but there's nothing stopping you from asking. I know someone who had ages between exchange and completion (think it was about 4 months) which I thought a little risky but it even worked out fine for them.

I would say the sweet spot between exchange and completion is about a week.