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Mortgages and moving home

What you'll need to know if you're thinking about moving home.

Porting your mortgage

Moving home and want to take your current mortgage with you? 

Selling and buying

The options available to you if you're moving home and would like a new mortgage.

Mortgages and moving home

The whole process of buying a new home can be daunting; not only may you need to sell your current home and buy a new home, but you may need to make changes to your mortgage. This guide will take you through your options, types of mortgages, applying for a mortgage and moving in.

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Selling your current home and buying a new one

You'll need to think about the timing of your move and also how you'll split the property if you're buying with someone else.

People often buy and sell at the same time but this isn't always preferable and sometimes isn't possible. If you:

  • Sell first: you'll be in a stronger negotiating position when you buy, since you'll be chain free and clearer about what price you can offer. However, you might need to rent while you're looking for a place to buy. You'd also need to move twice and might have to pay storage charges. House prices could change before you buy - if they go down you'll be in a better position to buy, but if they go up you may not be able to afford what you could have when you sold.
  • Buy first: we'll need to be sure you can afford the expense of having two homes at once. And you won't be able to take your existing mortgage product with you to your new home.

If you're buying with someone else, your options are:

  • Beneficial Joint Tenants: Joint tenants have equal rights to the whole property and the property automatically goes to the other owners if you die. You can’t pass on your ownership of the property in your will.
  • Tenants in common: This means you jointly own your new home and a share of its value – the property doesn’t pass automatically to the other owners if you die. You can pass your share of the property in your will.
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Porting your mortgage

If you already have a Nationwide mortgage and are buying a new home, you might be able to take your current mortgage product with you. This is called porting your mortgage. Most of our mortgages are portable, though you should check your mortgage offer details first to make sure porting is available to you. 

Porting options

You can port all or part of your mortgage. You could also port your existing mortgage and take out additional borrowing if needed to buy your new home. You'd need to take this new borrowing on a new mortgage product from our range at the time. You won't need to pay Early Repayment Charges on any part of your mortgage you port, even if it's still within the deal period. But you might need to pay Early Repayment charges on any part of your mortgage that you don't port.

How to port

Basically, the process for porting your mortgage is the same as getting a new mortgage: you'll get a Decision in Principle and complete a full mortgage application.  If you're interested in porting your mortgage, you'll need to speak to one of our Mortgage Consultants. They'll advise you on whether porting is the right option for you and help you to arrange your mortgage.

Read more about porting your mortgage in our support section.

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What's next?

Next: Planning to buy

    Planning to buy
    Finding the right mortgage
    Getting a Decision in Principle
    Applying for a mortgage
    Completion and moving in