FAQs – new customers

We lend across the whole of England, Wales, Scotland and some Scottish islands.

The maximum we lend depends on individual circumstances and the terms of the mortgage product. You can use our mortgage calculator to get an idea of how much you could potentially borrow and how much your monthly payments would be.

You will find a list of fees on the individual mortgage product pages. Browse all products.

Our preferred way to verify your identity is via an electronic ID check. If we cannot do this, we will contact you to ask for more identification. You will need to provide: 

You’ll need to provide:

• Proof of ID eg. passport or driving licence
• Three months’ bank statements

And either

• Last three months’ consecutive payslips and latest P60
• OR last 3 years’ accounts/SA302 documents if Self Employed.

Certified copies are acceptable from your Mortgage Broker or Solicitor.

Please note that you may be asked for further information or documentation by our Mortgage Advisors or Underwriters.

Capital repayment mortgage

This is the most popular repayment method. You will pay capital and interest within your monthly payment for an agreed period of time (know as the mortgage ‘term’). This mortgage is guaranteed to be repaid at the end of the mortgage term providing all payments are made and on time.

Interest only mortgage

An interest only mortgage allows you to pay off just the interest on your loan every month. You’ll need to have a repayment plan in place to pay back the amount you borrowed at the end of the term. This could be an endowment policy, ISA, pension or in certain circumstances, sale of property.  You can find more independent information about interest only repayment options at Moneyhelper.

Part and part mortgage

A part and part mortgage is a combination between the two repayment methods above. It allows you to have paid off a portion of your mortgage by the end of the term, with a repayment plan to pay back the interest only element. You can find more independent information about interest only repayment options at Moneyhelper.

If you move house you may be able to transfer your current mortgage to your new house subject to meeting the Society’s lending criteria. This is called ‘porting’ and will be shown in your Mortgage Offer Conditions.

Most mortgages now offer you the option of making overpayments. Making overpayments can help you repay your mortgage before the end of the term, which will save you money on interest. While you are in a preferential rate period, we allow you to pay up to 20% of the balance outstanding as at 1st January, each calendar year without incurring an early repayment charge. When your preferential rate period expires, you would be able to make any additional overpayments or even pay off your mortgage in full without incurring an early repayment charge.

Your rate will revert to our standard variable interest rate for the remainder of the term, unless you have chosen one of our products that includes a *reversionary rate after the fixed or discount period. This reversionary rate is 1% below our standard variable rate for three years. However, we’ll contact you four-six months before this happens to let you know what the new payment is and if you are eligible to switch your mortgage deal if you want to.

Once you’ve let us know what you want to do, we’ll provide a mortgage offer which will outline the details of your new deal, when it will begin and what you need to do to accept it. If the new rate is lower than your existing rate, your new deal will start immediately. If the new rate is higher than the existing rate the new deal will not start until your current one comes to an end.

*This is the rate to which your mortgage will revert at the end of any fixed or discount period. 

As a niche lender we are very flexible in our approach, and that applies to the properties we lend on too. If you have any questions about a specific property, you can check the lending criteria on our product pages or have a quick chat with our mortgage team who will be happy to advise you.

Valuers are expected to request an EWS1 form on any block of flats where they have concerns about the fire safety of the external wall system, eg. flammable cladding or insulation, inadequate firestopping and combustible material on balconies. These problems can be found on blocks of any height, not just those over 18 metres.

EWS1 forms must meet all the following criteria to be acceptable:
The Assessment Result:
• It must be clear and obvious which of the result Options has been selected.
• There must be only one Option selected as they are mutually exclusive.
• The Option selected must be A1, A2 or B1.

The Assessors Qualifications:
• The assessor should be a fully qualified member of a relevant professional body on the RICS
published list.
• “Fully qualified” typically means Fellow or Member.
• To sign off a “B” option the assessor must have a higher level of expertise, e.g. a Chartered
Engineer who is a Fellow or Member of the Institution of Fire Engineers

Other Requirements:
• The form must be addressed to the assessor’s client. This will usually be the building owner
(unless in Scotland where it could be the individual flat owner).
• The form must include the correct post code(s) and building name.
• The form must cover the whole building, not an individual flat
• The form must be the current (December 2019) RICS published version and it must be complete
and unaltered.
• There must be no added comments which indicate that the inspection was restricted, or the result
is provisional.
• The form must stand alone, e.g. it must not refer to another document for validity.

Accompanying Covering Letter:
• The assessor should provide a covering letter on a letterhead to confirm that the form is genuine.
• The covering letter should not contradict or otherwise cast doubt on the result of the EWS1.

It should be noted that a clause on the EWS1 form specifically disclaims any liability to any lenders and purchasers who view the form.

Your regular monthly payment will be collected on the last working day of the month. The first payment on your new mortgage will be collected on the last working day of the month after we release the funds to your Solicitor. So, for example if we release funds on 5^th June, your first mortgage payment will be 31^st July.

The amount of your first monthly mortgage payment will be your normal monthly payment as shown in your Mortgage Offer. However, interest accrues on your mortgage account from the day we release funds to your Solicitor.  Using the example we shared in ‘When will I make my first payment’, the payment we collect on 31^st July will be July’s regular payment. The interest from 5^th June to 30^th June will remain outstanding and you have the option to pay this amount if you choose. If you do not pay this amount before 30th June, it will be capitalised to the mortgage account and you will pay interest on this for the life of the mortgage.

Interest on our mortgage products is charged daily from the date of the mortgage advance. This means that your monthly payment will affect the balance on which interest is charged straight away.

We will only accept Solicitors who meet the following criteria:

Any firm of two or more SRA* approved managers/partners will remain acceptable, provided that the firm has CQS* (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) status.
*n/a in Scotland.

If the firm does not have CQS status, we will only accept solicitors who meet the following criteria.

• Must be a practice that has been established for a minimum of 10 years (where there have been mergers we must be satisfied that, where they were firms of a similar size, they both had a 10 year history or where it was more of a takeover that the larger firm meets the 10 year rule)
• The majority of the partners/SRA approved managers (i.e. greater than 50%) should have been fully qualified Solicitors for a minimum of 5 years.
• Where the solicitors acting are a branch of a firm that branch should have been established for a minimum of 5 years and the ‘local’ partner must have 5 years’ experience.
• The firm must have a minimum of 4 partners with an equitable interest whether by way of partnership agreement or, in the case of a limited company, by way of a shareholding.

Additional information

• The Society will not use Licensed Conveyancers under any circumstances
• The Society will only instruct Solicitors who are registered with the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) and this will be validated by a search of the SRA website.
• In Scotland, the firm must be a member of the Law Society of Scotland.
• The Solicitors may not be subject to any disciplinary action from the Solicitors Regulatory Authority or similar.

For all loans to Limited Companies the Society will need separate legal representation at the cost of the borrower. We do accept a different partner acting in the same firm. The only exception is if the company is already a borrower with the Society, in which case we will allow the same Solicitor to act for us and the borrower.

However carefully you plan, we know that circumstances can change. If your circumstances change during the term of your mortgage, perhaps because of illness, redundancy or relationship breakdown, it may have an adverse affect on your ability to repay your mortgage. If you do experience difficulties you should contact us as soon as possible. Our team will deal with your request sensitively.

You can also get help from debt counselling organisations that we recognise, for example the Citizens Advice Bureau, MoneyHelper and StepChange Debt Charity.

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Contact our mortgage team today for more help and advice.