Moving home mortgage options

A moving home mortgage is when you move home and either choose to stay with your existing mortgage lender or change to a new one. You’ll need to apply for a brand-new mortgage and use all or part of the loan to pay off your current mortgage. 

If you already have a Santander mortgage, you can take your current deal with you to your new home. This is called 'porting'. If interest rates have increased, you get to keep your lower rate. You may need to pay an early repayment charge (ERC) if you want to borrow less. If you need to borrow more, you can choose a new deal for the extra amount you need to borrow.

If you don’t want to port your current deal, you can choose a new one instead. If your current deal is on a fixed rate, you may need to pay an ERC if you’ve got more than 9 months left on your deal.

Want to know more about moving home? Check out our handy moving home guide.

Check out how much you could borrow

Before you shop around for your new home, see how much money you could borrow from us with our how much could I borrow calculator. It only takes a couple of minutes and it won't affect your credit score.

Work out your deposit

As you’re selling your existing home, you can use equity from the sale of your current property to make up all or part of the deposit. If it isn't enough to buy your new home, you'll need to make up the difference with savings or by borrowing more.

Compare mortgage rates

Once you know the price of the home you want to buy, how much you could borrow and how long you want to borrow it for, we can tell you the mortgage rates available, and the monthly cost, using our mortgage rates comparison tool.

Get a decision in principle

Before you apply for a mortgage with us, get a decision in principle. This tells you if we could lend you the amount you need. It’s free, no obligation and valid for 60 days. You'll get your decision straight away. Plus, you can download a copy to take with you when viewing homes so estate agents know you’re serious.

Making an offer

When you’re ready, you’ll make your offer through the estate agent. It’s usually verbal to start with, but they might also ask you to put it in writing, so it helps to have a draft email ready to go. They’ll then take it to the seller and come back to you with a decision.

Apply for your mortgage

Once you’ve got your online decision in principle and an offer accepted on the home you want to buy, you’re ready to apply for your new mortgage. You can use the same application reference number from your decision in principle to start your mortgage application.
 

You need a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer to help with the legal side of moving home. Their fees will include things like stamp duty and land registry checks. With most of our mortgage deals we’ll give you £250 cashback that can help towards your legal costs. 

There might be other fees to pay such as a product fee for the interest rate you choose, estate agent fees and a cost for completing a survey on your new home. Costs vary depending on the type of survey you choose. UK surveyors are governed by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

To get a rough idea without affecting your credit score, you can use our how much could I borrow calculator. It only takes a couple of minutes and we'll show you what we could lend you.

Absolutely, you should get a decision in principle before you start making any offers. It can show estate agents and sellers that you’re serious. It’s free, no obligation and valid for 60 days. You'll get your decision straight away, plus you can download a copy.

Choose a deal that suits your plans, whether you want a fixed monthly payment or a rate that tracks the Bank of England base rate.

In this section we explain the different types of mortgages to help you work out what’s best for you.

For an in-depth comparison of the mortgage types on offer read our guide to mortgages.

Repayment mortgage

Your monthly payment covers both the amount you’ve borrowed and interest. So as long as you keep up your payments, your mortgage will be paid off at the end.

Interest only mortgage

Your monthly payment only pays off the interest. You’ll still need to pay back the amount you borrowed at the end of your mortgage and will need a separate plan in place to do this (such as an investment or endowment). We may limit the amount allowed on interest only. See our interest only mortgages guide (PDF - 56 KB) for what you need to know.

Combination

You can choose to pay part of your mortgage as repayment and the other part as interest only.