Is the mortgage market turbulence getting you down? Have you got a mortgage-related question you need answering? Email in, and we will get one of our experts to reply. Nick Mendes, mortgage technical manager at John Charcol, has given his advice to a reader below. If you have a question for our experts, email us at money@theipaper.com.
Question: We’re buying a house but the sale is dragging on and our mortgage offer is due to expire before we complete. Rates have gone up since we applied. Can we get an extension from our lender or broker, or are we better off trying to renegotiate the price with the seller?
Answer: Mortgage offers typically last three to six months, and most lenders will not budge on that end date once it’s set. But there is usually a route through the problem, and it starts with the broker rather than the seller.
Shorts
The first step is checking exactly how long is left and how much the chain has slipped. If completion looks tight but achievable, most lenders can extend an offer close to expiry, provided there’s no material change to income, employment, or credit profile.
