ERC refund - minimum time between transactions

KE48

Hoping someone can help my tired brain. I can see online that Halifax will refund an ERC if you take out a new mortgage with them within 3 months of paying off your previous mortgage. What is the minimum timeframe to complete on the new place for them to deem it non-simultaneous and therefore allow the refund? Thanks! 

Mark_d

I think you get your ERC refund if you draw down on the new mortgage within 3 months.  So even same day should be fine

Hoenir

That may well depend on the product applied for. Read the small print when applying. 

KE48

It’s been indicated I might need two weeks between sale and purchase. Will this be in my offer when it comes? 

user1977

I would expect it needs to be simultaneous (or rather, the solicitor knows that they need to pay the ERC unless they know they are also completing a purchase at the same time). You can't just tell the Halifax you're expecting to complete a purchase shortly, as for all they know you may fail to do so and then disappear into the sunset with the ERC...

KE48

Yes I get that. We will have to pay the ERC on completion of the sale and then request the refund after completion of the purchase. What I don’t know is that whilst we have to complete the purchase within three months to get the refund, I can’t see anything that suggests what the minimum timeframe needs to be between sale and purchase for us to be eligible for the refund. If we complete both on the same day, we won’t be eligible. 

user1977

If you do them on the same day then it won’t be payable in the first place. Not sure why you think there is a minimum period?

KE48

Well I guess I’m assuming since it can’t be on the same day but has to be before the three months are up, there would be something like ‘as long as the purchase happens between 7 and 90 days after the sale, a refund will be issued’. Am I being daft here?  

user1977

KE48 said:

Am I being daft here?  

Well, yes. Why would there have to be a minimum period? And like I said, it can be on the same day as long as they're actually simultaneous (the ERC simply doesn't get paid).

KE48

Sorry, to be clear…we have been told we will get a refund if the sale and purchase are not on the same day. We’ve also been told we have three months to take out the new mortgage to successfully claim the refund.  

Same day sale and purchase = ERC paid on sale and won’t be refunded 
New mortgage taken out for new house less than 90 days from closing old mortgage = ERC refunded 
I just wanted to know if there was a standard ‘for the sale and purchase to be deemed non-simultaneous and therefore eligible for ERC refund, the transactions must be X days apart’. Perhaps my answer is no given responses here. 

user1977

“Simultaneous” has its normal English meaning. The next day would be not simultaneous.