If you benefitted from an equity loan from us in order to buy your home, it is important you get in touch with us if you are planning to make changes, such as arranging a new mortgage or deciding to redeem the loan.
Do you have any questions? We hope to have answered some of the most frequently asked questions below but if not, get in touch with our homeownership team who will be happy to assist you with your query.
Our HomeBuy initiative was a way of buying your home at a reduced cost. Whilst this specific product is no longer available to new customers, we can help you find out about similar current Government schemes.
Want to know more? Our helpful leaflets should give you all the information you might need:
Please get in touch with our team if you want to change your mortgage provider as we also need to agree to this.
You will need to provide details of the redemption figure from your current mortgage lender and tell us how much you will borrow on the new mortgage before your request can be confirmed.
Please refer to our remortgaging leaflet (pdf, 333KB) if you want to borrow more. We will ask you to provide some information, so we can make sure requirements are met. You will need to provide your mortgage offer.
There is a small administrative charge payable to us, which covers the cost of issuing a formal consent to the lender for you to re-mortgage.
What is a 'further advance’, and can I apply for one?
Further advance is a term used when a homeowner wants to borrow more money on a mortgage. This can be with their existing mortgage lender or as part of a re-mortgage.
If this is something you are considering - we will need to agree if you want to borrow more money and there is an administration fee for this service.
The Homes and Communities Agency funding rules only allow us to agree further advances where the money is being used to repair or improve a home. The amount of extra borrowing that is allowed is also restricted. These restrictions help protect the public money invested in providing the equity loan.
We can agree extra borrowing if the money isn’t for repairs or improvements and/or is above the restricted amount, however this must be charged separately from your principal mortgage.
If you are looking into this – please get in touch with our team to find out more about the information you need to provide. Our re-mortgaging and further advance leaflet (pdf 333kb) will also be useful.
Can I transfer my HomeBuy loan to another person?
You have to redeem your loan when you sell your home. However, there are times when the person who owns your home changes, but your home hasn’t been sold. An example of this would be when a property is left to another member of the family after the death of the homeowner. This can also happen when there is a divorce, or a relationship breaks down between homeowners.
We know situations like this are challenging, so please get in touch and we will do everything we can to help.
We might be able to transfer the equity loan from the current homeowner to another person in these circumstances, but the rules about this are strict. You will have to redeem your loan if your situation doesn’t meet the requirements.
You will be asked to pay our solicitors’ fee if you qualify for a transfer. We can of course talk all of this through with you as to how much this will be.
Administration charges
We might ask you to pay a small administration charge to cover costs related to supplying information or documentation, issuing permission to change a lease or something else that needs official consent.
