How Long Does It Take to Remortgage Your Home?

Remortgaging can save you money or allow you to release equity from your property to pay for home improvements, consolidate debts, or even buy a second home. But while it may offer many benefits, how long does remortgaging take? 

You can expect a simple remortgage to complete in around 8 weeks. Given the amount of money you could save by remortgaging and the relatively small amount of effort the process requires, it’s worth considering.

The remortgaging process is often quicker and less complicated than people expect. It typically takes around 8 to 12 weeks after submitting your initial application. The exact timeframe depends on your circumstances and whether you’re switching to a new lender or staying with your current provider. 

Lenders treat a remortgage as a new application, meaning they’ll want to conduct a property valuation and review your income and expenditure to assess affordability. Any discrepancies with the property’s valuation or delays in the legal and conveyancing process can slow things down. 

Remortgaging is often quicker if you stay with your existing lender, as it’s usually treated as a product transfer, which may allow you to avoid additional legal work.

If you choose not to do a product transfer with your current lender and instead remortgage with a new provider, it will be treated as a new mortgage application. This means it can take a similar amount of time as your first mortgage. 

The new lender will want to verify your finances and assess your affordability. They’ll also need to be confident in the value of the property you’re remortgaging. Your application will be subject to a full valuation and underwriting process, which is often the most time-consuming part of remortgaging. 

Fortunately, as you’re not buying a new property, the remortgaging process isn’t affected by housing chains or property searches. However, solicitors are still involved in the remortgage process.

Remortgaging is when you switch your mortgage to either a new deal or to a different lender. Your new mortgage will replace your old one. There are many reasons why you might consider a remortgage, including:

• Your mortgage is coming to the end of its rate, and your lender is about to put you on its more expensive standard variable rate (SVR)
• You want to lower your monthly repayments
• You are on a variable rate mortgage but want more payment stability
• You want to make overpayments on your mortgage
• You want to release the equity in your home for home improvements, to consolidate debt or a large purchase

It can take anywhere between 4 - 8 weeks to receive the money when you remortgage and release equity from your home. The process may take longer if you’re switching lenders or if there are complications with your remortgage application. 

Your home’s equity is its current market value, minus your outstanding mortgage and any other debts secured against it. Equity release allows you to convert that equity into cash without having to sell your home. 

Remortgaging is a relatively simple way to release the equity you’ve built up in your property. Once you’ve released the equity, you can spend the money however you wish. If you decide to remortgage to a lower interest rate, you may be able to release some of the equity while keeping your mortgage repayments the same - or even lower - than what you currently pay.