A help to buy remortgage simply means moving the main mortgage on a home bought with a Help to Buy equity loan. You have two debts on the property: your normal mortgage, and the government loan from Homes England. When your fixed rate ends, or when the interest fees start in year 6, you can remortgage and leave the equity loan where it is, use the new mortgage to pay some of it back, or pay back the loan in full.
Most of my Help to Buy clients come to me about six months before their deal ends. That is the right time. There is a valuation to arrange, a form to send off and a few banks who will not touch these cases, so a little extra time takes the stress out of it. The scheme itself is covered in our Help to Buy mortgages guide; this page is the practical remortgage detail.
Nearly every case I see ends up as one of these four. The right one comes down to your equity, your income and how long you plan to stay.
Move your mortgage for a better rate and leave the government loan alone. You need permission, and you cannot borrow more money this way.
Borrow extra on the new mortgage to repay at least 10% of the market value. People call this staircasing. Your interest fees fall in line with what is left.
Borrow enough to clear the government completely. You own 100% of your home, the fees stop and every lender on the market is open to you again.
A product transfer with your existing lender, without borrowing more, needs no sign off. Often the quickest route when values have fallen.
Keeping the loan
This is the like for like route. The new mortgage pays off the old one, the government loan stays as it is, and you get a better rate. A few rules catch people out.
Moving to a new bank means Homes England has to agree first. You send the GOV.UK form by email or post with a redemption statement less than 12 working days old, your new mortgage offer and a breakdown of the new charges. The admin fee is £115 and the approval lasts 6 months.
You cannot raise more money this way for a car or to clear debts. Extra borrowing is only allowed to pay back some or all of the equity loan, or for structural alterations that have been approved. So the new mortgage normally matches the balance you owe today.
The government loan sits behind your mortgage as a second charge. Your conveyancer arranges a deed of postponement so the new bank keeps first place.
Plenty of high street banks and building societies accept the loan staying in place, but not all. Some only lend if you clear it. GOV.UK also asks you to check the new charges are not more than £2,000. Picking the wrong one wastes weeks.
A new deal with your existing lender, without borrowing more, needs no permission at all. Just ask them whether a new deed of postponement is needed. Day to day the loan is run for Homes England by Lenvi Servicing Limited (formerly Equiniti Gateway Services), which trades as Help to Buy customer services. Older letters may show a different company name, so always take contact details from GOV.UK.
Paying it back
This is where most people end up once the interest starts. You borrow more on the new mortgage and use it to pay back some or all of the government loan. The bigger mortgage costs more each month, but the fees shrink or stop.
Any part payment must be at least 10% of the market value, and you cannot leave less than 5% outstanding. On a 20% loan you could go to 10%, or clear the lot, but not drop to 3%. Because some of the loan stays, you still need sign off. The admin fee is £200.
Clear the whole loan and you do not need permission to switch. You still need a RICS valuation report, a conveyancer, the £200 fee and a redemption figure that includes any interest, fees or mortgage arrears up to the day it is cleared. Then the charge comes off your title and the fees stop.
Valuation
An independent RICS surveyor values the home. The report goes in within 5 working days.
Choose the amount
All of it, or at least 10% of the value. We show the monthly figures for each.
Mortgage application
We place the case and get the new mortgage offer issued.
Conveyancer applies
They send the form, pay the fee and clear any arrears on the loan.
Undertaking and authority
A redemption letter, a legal undertaking, then authority to complete, usually within 5 days.
Completion
Both debts are paid off. If completion slips by more than a week, a new figure may be needed.
The valuation
The valuation sets the figure you repay, so the rules are strict. A report that gets sent back is the most common delay I see.
A surveyor who is RICS qualified and registered (MRICS or FRICS), independent of any estate agent and not related to you. They must go inside. A desktop property valuation will not do for the first report.
At least 3 comparable homes sold in the last 12 months, like for like in type, size and age, within 2 miles, on headed paper and addressed to the government's administrator.
Valid for 3 months from the date it was produced. If it is about to run out, the same surveyor can extend it by 3 months with a desktop update using at least 6 comparables. Order it once the application is under way, not months before.
Your new mortgage provider does its own valuation, and the two figures do not always match. If theirs is lower, you may not be able to borrow enough to clear the loan. You pay the surveyor yourself, so get a couple of quotes.
Timescales
A normal remortgage takes four to six weeks. With an equity loan involved, allow two to three months and start early.
Six months before your deal ends
Get in touch. Most banks let you secure remortgage deals this far ahead.
Weeks 1 to 3
Application, the bank's valuation and your RICS report.
Weeks 3 to 6
Mortgage offer issued and the conveyancer sends the Help to Buy forms.
Weeks 6 to 10
Undertaking, authority to complete, then the switch. Your new rate starts from completion.
Typical timings from our own cases, not guarantees. A slow valuation or a missing document can add weeks. Our remortgage advice page covers the wider process.
Worked example
This is the bit that trips people up. The equity loan is a share of your home, not a fixed sum. Figures are for illustration only.
Emma bought a new build for £300,000 in 2020: a £15,000 deposit, a 20% equity loan of £60,000 and a £225,000 mortgage. Her fixed rate ends this year and she owes about £195,000.
She owes 20% of £340,000, so £68,000, which is £8,000 more than she borrowed. Clearing it needs a mortgage of about £263,000, or 77% loan to value. Repaying half (10%) needs about £229,000 at 67%, with £34,000 of the loan left in place.
Now she owes 20% of £280,000, so £56,000, which is £4,000 less than she borrowed. But clearing it needs about £251,000, nearly 90% loan to value, so the rate is likely to be higher and the choice smaller.
The lesson: a lower value makes the loan cheaper to repay but the new mortgage harder to arrange. A higher value does the opposite.
Calculator
Put in your own figures to see what it would cost to repay the government loan, how big the new mortgage would be and your loan to value.
What lenders look at
Repaying the loan means borrowing more, and that means a full affordability check again.
Most banks cap borrowing at around 4 to 4.5 times income, then check spending, credit and how repayments would look if rates rose. Emma's £263,000 would usually need a household income of roughly £58,000 to £66,000. Bonus, overtime or self employed income changes who will look at you.
Keep the loan and the mortgage is priced on its own against the value, though the total owed including the government's share is checked too. Clear it and LTV is simply the bigger mortgage against the value. Our loan to value calculator shows your band.
Many people paid extra for a brand new home. Five years on it is valued against resales, not show homes, which is why some estates have barely moved. The upside: tighter new build limits no longer apply.
For example, at the time of writing YBS's Next Step range needs the equity loan repaid in full, and Suffolk Building Society will lend up to 95% LTV to clear it but not with it kept in place. Others are happy either way.
Interest and costs
The loan is interest free for the first five years. From the start of year 6 you are charged interest at 1.75% of the amount you originally borrowed, collected monthly by direct debit.
After that the rate goes up every April: by RPI plus 1% for 2013 to 2021 loans, or by the Consumer Price Index plus 2% for the 2021 to 2023 scheme. The increase applies to the rate itself, not as whole percentage points, so if RPI were 10% the rate would rise by 11% of itself, from 1.75% to about 1.94%. There is also a £1 monthly management fee and none of it reduces what you owe. Our Help to Buy mortgages guide has a year by year fee calculator.
Admin fees
£115 to remortgage and keep the loan, £200 to repay part or all of it.
Valuation and legal
The RICS report, plus a conveyancer. Free legal packages do not always cover the equity loan side, so check.
Bank and other fees
Product fees and any early repayment charge. Our remortgage costs guide shows how to compare.
Interest to completion
Interest and fees run to the day it is repaid.
Our fee
Fee free on over 90% of cases. £299 under £100,000, and up to £995 for complex or adverse cases.
Compare on total cost
A cheaper rate with a big fee is not always cheaper. We add it all up for you.
If your home is worth less
Negative equity means you owe more than the home is worth, counting the mortgage and the equity loan together.
A product transfer with your current lender is usually the answer. There is normally no new valuation or affordability check, and no sign off needed if you are not borrowing more. It keeps you off the standard variable rate while values recover.
A new bank is unlikely to help. Keep paying the interest fees, because arrears on the loan make every option harder. If money is tight, contact Help to Buy customer services early and speak to us.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Some of the lenders we compare for remortgages
Each guide covers one part of remortgaging in more detail.
Better rate, raising money or a product transfer. The main reasons people remortgage and how each one works.
Product fees, valuation, legal costs and early repayment charges, and how to compare deals on total cost.
What your bank can and cannot offer you, and when a broker is worth it on a remortgage.
Raising money from your home, how much lenders allow and what it does to your monthly payments.
The scheme explained: how the equity loan works, the year 6 interest fees and what came after Help to Buy.
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More questions
Not while the loan stays in place, apart from approved structural alterations. Clear it first and normal rules apply; our remortgage for home improvements page covers that.
No. The interest and the £1 management fee are the cost of keeping it. Only a repayment reduces what you owe.
Yes, in full or in stages of at least 10% of the value. You still need a RICS valuation report.
Your repayment follows the RICS figure, but the bank lends against its own. You may need to repay less, add savings or try elsewhere.
No. You must pay it back when you sell, pay off your main mortgage or reach the end of the term, normally 25 years.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Alexander Southwell Mortgage Services Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA no. 1011890).
