Mortgage Offer Expiring? Protect Your Rate as Fixes Rise
Mortgage fixes under 5% are disappearing, MoneySavingExpert reported this week. The cheapest two-year and five-year fixed rates for buyers now stand at 4.78% and 4.95%, compared with 3.87% and 3.98% a year ago. With the Bank of England's next base rate decision due on 5 November and markets expecting rates to rise, most of the attention is on whether to fix now or wait. But for anyone already partway through buying a home, there's a more urgent question: will your mortgage offer still be valid when you complete?
Why Your Mortgage Offer Is Now Worth Protecting
If you secured a mortgage offer a few months ago, you may be holding a rate that simply isn't available any more. That makes it valuable, and also time-limited.
Most mortgage offers are valid for around six months, although some lenders set shorter periods, particularly on new-build purchases. If your purchase drags beyond that date, you may have to reapply. In today's market, that could mean a noticeably higher rate, a fresh affordability check that you no longer pass at the higher rate, or a new valuation that comes in lower in a softening market.
Remember too that a mortgage offer is not unconditional until completion. Lenders can withdraw an offer if your circumstances change materially, such as a job change, new borrowing or a lower valuation, so it pays to keep your finances steady until the keys are in your hand.
What Slows Down Conveyancing and Puts Offers at Risk
The conveyancing process has several stages where time can slip away:
- Searches. Local authority searches can take weeks in some areas, and the lender will want them back before releasing funds.
- Enquiries. If the seller's replies are slow or incomplete, your solicitor can't advise you to exchange.
- The chain. Your timetable is only as fast as the slowest buyer or seller above or below you.
- Leasehold properties. Management packs from freeholders and managing agents are a frequent bottleneck.
- Lender conditions. Some offers carry conditions, such as retentions for repairs, that must be satisfied before completion.
None of these are unusual, but in a market where your offer might expire, each one matters more.
How to Keep Your Purchase on Track
There are practical steps you can take now:
- Check your offer expiry date today and share it with your conveyancer and broker, so everyone is working to the same deadline.
- Respond quickly to every request from your solicitor, whether that's ID, source-of-funds evidence or signed documents. Delays at your end count too.
- Ask about an extension early. Some lenders will extend an offer, sometimes subject to a fresh credit check or valuation. That's much easier to arrange weeks before expiry than days.
- Talk to the chain. Your estate agent can help find out where other parties are and whether anyone is holding things up.
- Consider fixing a completion date at exchange that falls comfortably before your offer expires, rather than right on the deadline.
Remortgaging? The Same Clock Applies
If your current fixed deal is ending, the same urgency applies. Many lenders let you secure a new rate up to six months ahead. Product transfers with your existing lender usually need little legal work. A remortgage to a new lender does involve conveyancing, so build in time for the legal steps before your current deal ends and you drop on to a more expensive standard variable rate.
What Should You Do Next?
If you're in the middle of buying a home and worried about your mortgage offer running out, or you're about to start and want a conveyancer who'll keep things moving, we can help. Our first contact team will match you with an experienced conveyancing solicitor near you in the QualitySolicitors network, who can give you a realistic timetable and keep your purchase on track. Get in touch today and get your move moving.