Getting your mortgage and finances ready before you start house-hunting makes moving home far smoother and helps you act quickly when you find the right place. This guide is a moving home mortgage-ready checklist, covering the key steps to prepare so your move runs as smoothly as possible.
Why preparation matters
Moving home involves coordinating a sale, a purchase and your mortgage, often within a chain, so being well prepared helps everything run smoothly and lets you move quickly when the right home appears. Preparation also helps you budget accurately and avoid surprises. Taking the time to get mortgage-ready before you start, rather than scrambling later, is one of the best things you can do for a stress-free move.
Check if your mortgage is portable
Start by checking whether your current mortgage is portable and what early repayment charge would apply if you left it, as our guides to porting a mortgage and early repayment charges and how to avoid them explain. Knowing whether you can take your deal with you, and the cost of leaving it, is fundamental to planning your move and deciding between porting and a new mortgage.
Work out your equity and borrowing
Next, work out your likely equity, roughly what your home is worth minus your outstanding mortgage and selling costs, and how much you can borrow for the next one. Together these tell you what you can afford to buy. Getting a sense of your equity and borrowing early focuses your house-hunting on realistic homes, as our guide to borrowing more when you move explains.
Get a decision in principle
If you will need new or additional borrowing, getting a decision or agreement in principle from a lender confirms how much you can borrow and shows sellers you are a serious buyer, as our guide to the mortgage in principle explains. Having this in place lets you move quickly and confidently when you find a home, which matters in a competitive market or a chain.
Gather your documents
Get your paperwork ready, including proof of income, identification, bank statements and details of your current mortgage. Having these to hand speeds up your mortgage application or porting process and helps avoid delays. Lenders and solicitors will need this information, so preparing it in advance means you are ready to proceed as soon as your offer is accepted, keeping your part of the chain moving.
Decide porting or a new mortgage
Consider whether porting your existing deal or taking a new mortgage is likely to be better for you, weighing your current rate, any early repayment charge, and today's deals, as our guide to porting versus a new mortgage explains. You can confirm the detail once you have a specific purchase, but thinking it through early helps you plan. A broker can advise on the likely best route.
Budget for the full costs
Work out the full cost of moving, including stamp duty, legal and conveyancing fees, a survey, estate agent fees on your sale, removals and any mortgage fees, as our guide to stamp duty when moving explains. Budgeting for everything, with a buffer for surprises, ensures you can afford the move comfortably and are not caught short by costs that arrive around completion.
Line up your professionals
Finally, line up the professionals who will help your move: a solicitor or conveyancer for the legal work, and a mortgage broker if you want help finding and arranging your mortgage. Having them ready means you can instruct them promptly once your sale and purchase are agreed. Good, responsive professionals, instructed early, are a big help in keeping your move on track and avoiding delays.
Review your credit
Because any new or additional borrowing involves credit and affordability checks, it is worth reviewing your credit file before you move, correcting any errors and addressing any issues. A healthy credit position widens your options and improves the rates available, as our guide to credit and your mortgage explains. Checking your credit early, rather than discovering a problem mid-move, gives you time to put things right and strengthens your application.
Understand the selling side too
Getting mortgage-ready is not only about the purchase; it helps to understand what happens to your existing mortgage when you sell, including redemption and any early repayment charge, as our guide to selling your home and your mortgage explains. Knowing how your current mortgage will be repaid or ported, and the equity you will release, lets you plan both sides of your move and budget accurately for the next home.
Time your move around your deal
If you are in a fixed deal, consider how moving interacts with it, whether porting to keep the deal or timing the move for when it ends to avoid the early repayment charge, as our guide to moving during a fixed-rate deal explains. Factoring your deal's timing into your moving plans can save money, so it is a useful part of getting mortgage-ready.
Keep a contingency fund
Moving often brings unexpected costs, from survey findings to last-minute fees, so keeping a contingency fund beyond your planned budget is wise. A buffer means a surprise need not derail your move or leave you short at completion. Building a margin into your finances, alongside the deposit, stamp duty and other costs, helps you handle the inevitable bumps of moving without stress, and is a sensible part of preparing.
A smooth, well-prepared move
Bringing these steps together, knowing your mortgage options, equity and borrowing, having a decision in principle and your documents ready, budgeting fully, and lining up your professionals, sets you up for a smooth move. Preparation lets you act quickly and confidently when you find the right home and keeps your part of any chain moving. A little work upfront makes the whole process of moving home considerably easier.
Treat this checklist as a starting point you work through well before you find a home. The earlier you sort your mortgage position, equity, paperwork and budget, the more smoothly your move will go and the more confidently you can act when the right property comes along, with far less last-minute stress.
Finally, consider speaking to a mortgage broker early in the process. They can confirm whether porting or a new mortgage suits you, estimate your borrowing, and handle much of the legwork, so that by the time you find a home, the mortgage side is well in hand and your move can proceed without avoidable delays.
Work steadily through each step rather than leaving everything to the last minute, and you will reach the point of making an offer already mortgage-ready, equity understood, paperwork prepared and budget set, which is exactly the position from which a move tends to go smoothly.
In short
To get mortgage-ready to move, check whether your mortgage is portable and the early repayment charge, work out your equity and borrowing, and get a decision in principle for any new borrowing. Gather your documents, decide between porting and a new mortgage, budget for the full costs including stamp duty, and line up your solicitor and broker. Good preparation makes your move smoother and lets you act quickly.
Where to get help and next steps
Read our guides to moving home and your mortgage, porting versus a new mortgage, and moving and stamp duty. This is general information, not mortgage or financial advice.