Moving Home Mortgage Advice — Hampshire and Surrey
Moving home is more complex than a first purchase. You have an existing mortgage to deal with, potentially a chain above and below you, and a decision about whether to port your existing rate or start fresh with a new lender. Getting this wrong — choosing to port when remortgaging would have been cheaper, or applying to the wrong lender and losing a chain position while the application fails — is a material risk. We manage the whole process.
Porting Your Mortgage
Most fixed rate mortgages are portable — meaning you can transfer the existing rate and remaining term to your new property without an ERC. Porting requires a new affordability assessment with your existing lender, and the new property must meet the lender’s criteria. If you are borrowing more than the existing mortgage, the additional amount is a new loan at current rates alongside the ported amount. We calculate whether porting is cheaper than a full remortgage to a new lender across the combined amount — the answer is not always to port.
When Not to Port
Porting is not always the right choice. If your existing rate is higher than current market rates, porting locks in a worse rate when you could be accessing the best available market rate on the full loan. If your lender’s affordability assessment has become more restrictive since your original application (particularly relevant for self-employed and contractor buyers), porting may produce a lower maximum than the open market. If the new property does not meet your existing lender’s criteria (non-standard construction, ex-local authority, high-rise), the port may fail and you need a new lender anyway. We model both options before any recommendation.
Chain Management and Mortgage Timing
In Hampshire and Surrey’s active market, chain management is the difference between a smooth move and a collapsed transaction. We track the mortgage application timeline against the conveyancing chain, proactively extending mortgage offers before expiry and managing the interaction between your sale and purchase completions. Simultaneous completion (selling and buying on the same day) requires coordinated mortgage drawdown — we confirm this with both lenders and both conveyancers to avoid the scenario where the purchase funds arrive before the sale proceeds.
Bridging Finance for Home Movers
Short-term bridging finance allows you to buy your new property before your existing one has sold — useful when you have found the right Hampshire or Surrey property but your sale has not yet completed. Bridging rates are typically 0.8–1.2% per month (9.6–14.4% annualised), making them expensive for extended use but viable for 3–6 month gaps. We advise on regulated bridging finance and the exit strategy (your existing property sale) before any bridging application.
Top-Up Borrowing on a Move
Home movers who are trading up — from a £380,000 Fleet semi to a £580,000 Farnham detached — need the difference funded. With equity from the sale covering part of the deposit, the additional borrowing is assessed against current income at current lender criteria. If income has grown since the original purchase, the additional borrowing is straightforward. If self-employment or contracting income requires specialist assessment, we identify the lender who maximises the top-up alongside the ported amount.
We calculate the net cost of porting versus a new lender across the full combined amount before any recommendation. No broker fee. Call 01252 111 000 →