Standard Variable Rate in period nearing end of mortgage term

Swifty59

I will be 65 later this year and my buy to let mortgage comes to the end of its term in 2025.  I have just received notice that my current mortgage deal is about to expire, and it transpires that as I have less than 2 years until the end of the mortgage, none of the regular fixed or floating rate deals are available to me.  So my mortgage will revert to the Standard Variable Rate (8.49%) for the period between the expiry of this deal and the final repayment date.  The only alternative is to apply for a 10 year extension, which involves a substantial non-refundable valuation fee.

It seems outrageous that a lender does not have a more flexible approach to this situation involving a less expensive floating rate, as the SVR is punishingly expensive.  This seems to discriminate against older borrowers, as they are the most likely to be nearing the expiry of the mortgage term.  Has anyone any experience of a way through this dilemma?

la531983

Paying the mortgage off is one solution.

born_again

Standard loan to pay mortgage off?

user1977

How are you planning to pay it off at the end of the term? Just do that earlier, surely?

Swifty59

The plan is to sell the property on which it is secured, but it is tenanted at present.  Moving to the SVR basically consumes all of the interest

smipsy

Evict the tenants and then sell?

Suck it up and pay extra until they leave and then sell?

MWT

Swifty59 said:

It seems outrageous that a lender does not have a more flexible approach to this situation involving a less expensive floating rate, as the SVR is punishingly expensive.  This seems to discriminate against older borrowers, as they are the most likely to be nearing the expiry of the mortgage term.

Every borrower will have to deal with this at the end of their mortgage term so it is hard to view this as any form of discrimination.

Most would plan for this during the course of their mortgage and take it into consideration when deciding between the various fixed term offers available over the final 10 years or so.

It is a bigger concern for those on an interest only mortgage of course so the majority of customers on repayment mortgages are not impacted as much due to the much lower balance outstanding, which just means that advance planning is even more important for those with interest-only mortgages.

If you didn't plan for this then there really isn't any alternative other than re-mortgaging for a new term, selling early or just taking the hit.