How to remortgage your Help to Buy home and borrow more money
When you need permission to remortgage, how your lenders are involved, what documents you’ll need and how to apply.
Applies to England
Making changes to your equity loan or mortgage
Before you make any changes to your equity loan or repayment mortgage, you need to understand how those changes may affect you. You should consider getting independent financial advice.
You need to keep paying your management fee, and monthly interest if this is due, until you repay your equity loan.
You’ll need to settle any outstanding payments in full, or set up a payment plan by contacting our Customer Service team, before you can remortgage and borrow more money.
When you can remortgage and borrow more money
We’ll only allow you to remortgage and borrow more money:
- to pay back part or all of your equity loan
- to make structural alterations when you have permission
- to fund a transfer of equity
A transfer of equity is where you can change from joint to sole (or sole to joint) ownership of a property.
We may allow you to borrow more on your repayment mortgage to pay off leasehold arrears or mortgage arrears - we’ll consider each request individually.
You can either remortgage with your existing lender or change to a new one.
If you want to go ahead, you will need permission. Contact our Customer Service team first and they’ll explain what you need to do.
Borrowing more money if you’re in negative equity
You are in negative equity when your home’s current value is less than the total of what you owe on your repayment mortgage and equity loan.
Your property valuation will show if you are in negative equity. If you are, you cannot remortgage and borrow more money.
What you’ll need before you apply for permission
To apply for permission to remortgage you’ll need to:
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Get a repayment mortgage redemption statement from your mortgage provider.
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Contact your current mortgage lender to get a redemption (or repayment) statement. This confirms the total amount you need to repay, and that the total on your repayment mortgage has not increased.
The statement must be less than 12 working days old when we receive it as part of the application process.
If it’s older than this, you’ll need to get a new one.
Check your new lender is qualified
Your new mortgage lender must be:
- a qualifying lending institution
- authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
This is likely to include most banks and building societies. Your solicitor can confirm this.
Ask for a breakdown of your lender’s charges
Your current or new lender may charge you fees to remortgage and move to a different product or rate.
Ask for a breakdown of their fees, and check that they are not more than £2000.
If they are, we might not permit you to remortgage with this lender. Contact our Customer Service team to check.
Find a conveyancing solicitor
We will need your conveyancing solicitor’s details on the application form.
You can either:
- find a solicitor on the Law Society’s website
- ask your lender if they can instruct their own solicitor to act for both of you
Let your solicitor know how much of your equity loan you want to repay, as a percentage and a number. You will know the number after getting your surveyors valuation report.
The total amount of equity loan you repay is worked out based on the market value of your property and equity loan percentage amount at the time you choose to repay.
Pay any arrears
If you are behind with your equity loan payments you cannot remortgage.
Make sure you pay off anything you owe in full, or contact our Customer Service team to set up a payment plan.
Get a surveyor’s valuation on your home
We need to know the market value of your home so we can check your Loan to Value ratio (LTV). This to confirm you can afford the new repayments in the long term when you borrow more.
Find out your loan to value ratio
Loan to value is the difference between the value of your home and the amount of money you’re borrowing to pay for it. This is shown as a percentage.
The percentage you borrow is based on the market value of your new home when you buy it.
Your loan to value limit
Your loan to value normally cannot be more than 75% of the value of your home, unless you’re repaying part of your equity loan.
| Equity Mortgage Percentage Share | Maximum LTV Limit |
|---|---|
| 10% | 85% |
| 20% | 75% |
| 30% | 65% |
| 40% | 55% |
If your home is in London, your limit will be:
- 55%, if we contributed 40% as part of the equity loan
- 65%, if we contributed 30% from the equity loan
Example
Your home is valued at £200,000.
Your repayment mortgage is £140,000
Your loan to value ratio is 70% (140,000 divided by 200,000 and then multiplied by 100), which is below the loan to value limit of 75%.
If you wanted to remortgage and borrow more, your loan to value amount would be acceptable (as long as the additional borrowing did not take the LTV over 75%).
Get a surveyors valuation report
Before you contact a surveyor, you must tell us about anything that may affect the value of your home as they may need to agree which surveyor you can use.
This could be things like:
- external cladding
- any breaches of planning permission
- building regulations that have an impact on your property’s value (for example, a conservatory that you did not get a building control certificate for)
If your property is affected by external cladding
If your block of flats has certain types of external cladding, you may need a specialist valuation on your property.
How the report should be made
You’ll need to:
- send our Customer Service team a RICS valuation report for your property, so we can work out how much you need to repay
- pay for the report yourself
The report must be:
- signed and dated by the RICS certified surveyor who did the survey. Find a RICS surveyor in your area.
- on headed paper addressed to Homes England
- supplied as a PDF file or a digital document that you cannot edit
We cannot accept valuations that are made for bank or mortgage purposes.
Our criteria for the surveyor
You should give the surveyor making the valuation a copy of these criteria.
They must:
- be both RICS qualified and registered
- be independent of any estate agent
- not be related or known to you
- inspect the inside of the property
- provide at least 3 comparable properties and sale prices - they must be like-for-like properties in type, size, age and within 2 miles of the property that is being inspected.
The report is valid for 3 months from the date it was produced.
We need to receive the valuation within 5 working days of the date it was issued. Please send by either email or post to:
Email:
customerservices@myhelptobuyloan.co.uk
Post: Help to Buy Customer Service team, PO Box 5262, Lancing, BN99 9HE
If the report expires
If the valuation report expires before you repay your equity loan, we’ll need a ‘desktop valuation’ which will extend the original valuation by 3 months.
This letter must be:
- from the same RICS surveyor who made the valuation
- provided on the company’s headed paper and as a PDF or another digital format that you cannot edit
If you do not complete the repayment process in the additional 3 months, you’ll need to provide a new valuation report.
If your valuation report is due to expire, we’ll write to you and ask you to get a desktop valuation.
Getting a desktop valuation report
The RICS firm who did the original valuation can supply a desktop valuation report without visiting the property in person.
They must:
- refer to the original valuation report
- confirm the updated report is a desktop valuation
- provide at least 6 comparable properties and sale prices from the last year if the property has increased or decreased in value. If 6 are not available, they must state this clearly.
The report must be:
- made within 2 weeks of the expiry date of the original valuation report
- completed, signed and dated by the same RICS surveyor
- made on the company’s headed paper and also in PDF or another digital format that you cannot edit
This valuation is valid for 3 months from the date it is produced.
We need to receive the valuation within 5 working days of the date it was issued.
If we reject the report
You must make sure your surveyor carries out the valuation in the way we’ve asked for it.
We may reject the valuation report if it:
- does not follow the instructions
- is too high or low compared to similar properties
If we reject the report, you’ll need to provide and pay for a new report.
If you do not agree with the new valuation
Under the terms of your equity loan agreement the President of RICS will appoint a RICS surveyor to produce a final valuation.
How to apply to remortgage
Follow these steps if you want to remortgage with a new lender and borrow more money.
1. Contact our Customer Service team
You’ll need to tell our Customer Service team how much you want to remortgage and how much you want to borrow on top (if any).
We’ll talk through the application process and next steps with you.
Phone: 0300 123 4123
Email: customerservices@myhelptobuyloan.co.uk
Post: Help to Buy Customer Service team, PO Box 5262, Lancing, BN99 9HE
2. Get your paperwork ready
See what evidence you’ll need before you apply for permission.
3. Decide what percentage of your equity loan you are repaying
You can repay all or some of your equity loan at any time. You can make part payments of at least 10% of the full repayment amount, based on the market value of your home at the time you choose to repay.
4. Complete the application form
Complete the application form.
You’ll need:
- your equity loan account number
- the remortgage amount
- your solicitor’s and mortgage broker’s details
- to know the reason you want to remortgage and borrow more
If the repayment mortgage is in joint names, you’ll both need to sign the application form.
5. Send your paperwork and application form
Send our Customer Service team everything by email or post using the contact details above.
6. Pay the administration fee
The fee is £115 if you want to:
- remortgage only
- remortgage and transfer equity (move from joint to sole, or sole to joint, ownership)
- remortgage to make structural alterations
The fee is £200 if you want to remortgage and repay all or part of your equity loan.
You can pay this by:
- online transfer
- debit card by calling 0300 123 4123
- cheque
You must tell our Customer Service team on the number or email above if you’ve paid online so they can confirm it on your customer file.
Payment details
Bank name: Lloyds Bank PLC
Account name: EQGATEWAY RE HE HELP TO BUY ADMIN
Sort code: 30-80-12
Account number: 24501860
Reference: Your customer reference number or first line of your address and postcode
7. Getting a decision
Our Customer Service team will let you know the decision on your application by email or letter after receiving all of your documents.
From the information you send them, we’ll record:
- how much you want to borrow
- your solicitor’s details
- your loan to value limit
If your application is accepted or declined
If your application is accepted, we will contact you by phone or email and explain the next steps.
This permission is valid for 6 months from the date it is issued. If you do not complete your remortgage within this time you may have to repeat the application process.
If your application is declined, we will contact you by phone or email to explain the decision.
8. Complete the remortgaging process
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Send the ‘Authority to Proceed’ form either to your mortgage lender or through your mortgage broker.
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Once you’ve completed the remortgage, your solicitor must send us your new lender’s offer and the legal documents to sign.
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We’ll check the documents, update their system and record the interest rate of your new repayment mortgage.
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You and your solicitor will receive a final acceptance letter.
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We will send the finalised legal documents back to your solicitor.
Last updated 4 February 2022 + show all updates
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Updated to make the separation between Homes England and the equity loan administrator clearer.
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Added a link to the cladding guidance for Help to Buy homes.
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First published.