Transfer of Equity

You may decide that you want to add or remove a borrower from your mortgage, as a result of a change in your personal circumstances. This is often accompanied by a process called a transfer of equity.

A transfer of equity is a process where the ownership of part of a property is transferred, either as a gift or sold to another person. Because there is a mortgage on the property, we would require that the names on the mortgage are amended to match the ownership of the property.

This process could involve removing someone from the mortgage, adding someone or doing both at the same time. However, we’ll insist that at least one of the original mortgage holders remains on the mortgage.

If your mortgage is held on a shared ownership or shared equity scheme, or if you have a guarantor, then we won’t be able to offer you a transfer of equity. You can call us on 08000 288 288 call charges to discuss your alternative options.

If your mortgage product is coming to the end of its deal period or you are currently on our Standard Variable Rate, we have a range of new products for you to choose from. Any transfer of equity application would need to be completed exclusively to a switch.

What are the costs?

We do charge a transfer of equity fee (see our tariff for details). You should also consider other costs such as legal fees as you’ll need a solicitor to change the ownership of the property and change the mortgage.

There may be additional costs if you need to increase your mortgage. Please look at our Borrowing More section for more information.

Further considerations

There are a few things to consider before adding or removing a borrower from your mortgage:

• The maximum number of applicants we can accept on an account is two.
• You must have had your Platform mortgage for at least 6 months.
• Your account must be up to date and not been in arrears during the last 12 months.
• At least one applicant must be employed, self-employed or retired.
• We will require evidence of your income in the form of your latest personal bank statement showing the latest salary/income credit. We will also require further evidence depending on whether you are employed or self employed.
• You will be required to pay for a revaluation of the property if the loan-to-value is above 65%.
• We can consider applications for further borrowing at the same time as adding or removing a borrower from your mortgage. Refer to our Borrow More section for more detailed information on our criteria.

What do I need to do?

• In the first instance, if you are the borrower retaining the mortgage, call us on 08000 288 288 call charges. We'll start by discussing what you want to do and checking its affordable for your circumstances.
• We will arrange for a member of our Applications team to contact you with a view to arranging a fact-find appointment to talk to you about any changes you want to make.
• • for residential mortgages, you will be scheduled for an advised service where a personalised assessment will be undertaken by a professional Mortgage Advisor who will to talk to you about any changes you want to make. They might recommend some changes to the mortgage to ensure it’s affordable.
  • for Buy to Let mortgages, an ‘Information Only’ service will be provided where we assess eligibility and commence a telephone application, this is sometimes also referred to as ‘Execution only’. If you require mortgage advice on your BTL mortgage you should contact your broker.
• We’ll send you an illustration and an application pack within 5 working days from your completed fact-find appointment. If you’re happy with the changes, return the application form, the documentation required to support your application and any applicable fee to us, and we’ll process your request.
• Once we’ve checked all details and obtained the necessary information to fulfil our lending criteria, we’ll send your solicitor a mortgage offer and they will organise the transferral of the property to its new owners, and the transferral of any funds.

Do I need a solicitor?

We insist that a solicitor acts in the transfer of equity. They are there to ensure that the property is correctly transferred and to protect your and our interest in the transaction. This can be a solicitor of your choice, as long as they are on our solicitor panel. You can contact us on 08000 288 288 call charges to check if your chosen solicitor meets our requirements.

I need to remove my partner, but I can’t afford the mortgage

Firstly, get in touch with us. We will discuss your situation to see if there are any changes we can make that will make it affordable for you, like extending the term.

In some circumstances, the courts will decide that the property needs to be transferred into a sole name. While we will act on that order and consent to the property being transferred, the mortgage will remain in joint names.