Applying for a remortgage

Looking to switch your mortgage?

When you decide it’s time to remortgage your property, it’s important to familiarise yourself with the process first. Understanding the remortgage process before you commit to a new deal will help you decide if it’s right for you.

For instance, a new mortgage deal that reduces monthly payments might look attractive initially, but you may need to consider Early Repayment Charges or other additional fees when you switch.

image of houses and lamposts — Take a look at our new Applying for a Remortgage video guide.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

How long does a remortgage take?

Doing your remortgage application online with us can be quick if you have everything you need for reference. If you don’t have all the correct documents to hand in advance, it can slow the process down. Get your documents together and our experience shows the Application in Principle element of the process takes approximately 10 minutes, whilst the Full Mortgage Application process can take 15 minutes.

How to remortgage with Yorkshire Building Society

The remortgage process involves switching from your current mortgage lender to another to replace your existing mortgage. You can also use a remortgage to borrow extra money using the equity in your home. Here we explain the application and process, but if you’re ready to start, you can search for the right mortgage deal for you now.

Step by step guide Find a remortgage deal

Our remortgage incentives

As well as the main benefits of remortgaging, there may be other incentives available. Some of our mortgage products come with a Free Remortgage Legal Service which will cover the legal costs of moving your mortgage to us, and free standard valuation, which covers the standard mortgage valuation cost on selected products:

Free standard valuation

On selected products, we'll cover the cost of a standard valuation. Please note that this excludes second or subsequent valuations and does not include homebuyer's surveys, building and structural surveys or specialist reports. If you decide to change the loan amount you need after we have the valuation, you may be asked to cover the costs of a new valuation.

Free Remortgage Legal Service

On selected products, we'll cover the legal costs we've agreed with Optima Legal, or Wilson Nesbitt* for properties in Northern Ireland, to complete your remortgage. There shouldn’t be any other additional costs, but it's worth noting that this service is only for standard remortgages where the title of your property is registered freehold (heritable in Scotland), or leasehold. You can only take advantage of our free legal service if you apply directly with us and not through a third party. Also, we won't be able to cover:
- the cost if you need to register the property with the Land Registry in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
- any costs related to the transfer of title, postponement/discharge of charges, costs of notice to a landlord for a leasehold property, insurance to cover title defects or the costs of your own legal adviser.

We'll ask you to pay any extra costs that aren't directly related to your mortgage transfer to our legal service provider, including any reasonable expenses we incur if your mortgage doesn't complete.

*Yorkshire Building Society chooses to introduce its customers to Optima Legal and Wilson Nesbitt for its remortgage Legal Services. Legal Services are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Before you apply for a remortgage

Your personal circumstances and whether or not you can afford a mortgage is just as important for a remortgage as it is for a house purchase.

You’ll need to be prepared for the following:

Documentation: for reference while you apply such as you’re your employers address and details and pension information.
Income and outgoings: You’ll need evidence of your income and outgoings e.g. payslips, household bills and debt repayments.
Credit checks: All mortgage providers will also perform a credit check as part of the application so it’s a good idea to check your own credit report before applying. For the Application in Principle we only use a soft foot print on your credit report; this won’t affect your credit rating. We will do a full credit check with your Full Mortgage Application, just as all other mortgage lenders do.
Affordability: They will also need to make sure that you can afford the new mortgage now and in the future (should interest rates rise).
Eligibility: Before starting a remortgage application with us? you should refer to the information on our mortgage lending criteria and how your income/expenditure affect your application.
Conveyancing: You will need a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to carry out the necessary legal work. You can find out more about what is involved on our Conveyancing and mortgages guide

How to remortgage: step by step

Follow these 6 simple steps to apply for a remortgage with:

1. Value your property

A good first step is to get an up to date valuation of your property as this may have changed since you moved in. Depending on the value of the property, you may find that you have more mortgage deals to choose from and you could get a better interest rate than your current mortgage deal.
It’s important to be realistic about the value of your property because we’ll also request a valuation to be carried out as part of your application.

2. Check your existing mortgage

Check when your current mortgage deal ends and when you will be eligible for a new deal. You should also look into whether there are any charges to move from your existing mortgage deal. You can ask your Lender to send you a redemption statement which will tell you how much it will cost to repay your mortgage, including any Early Repayment Charges (ERCs).

3. Affordability check

The next step is to look at how much we can lend you and how much the payments would cost – this will allow you to compare it with your existing mortgage to make sure it’s affordable. Use our borrowing calculator to get an idea of how much we would be prepared to lend to you, or our repayment calculator to show how much the repayments for a new mortgage deal would cost.

4. Get a lending decision

You can get an online lending decision on your remortgage from us in just 10 minutes (this is also known as an ‘Approval in Principle’). We’ll take some details about your circumstances, income and outgoings and this will enable us to tell you if we would be prepared to lend to you and how much we would lend.

5. Search for a remortgage deal

Our remortgaging page lists all our current remortgage deals. You will just need to enter the current value of your property and the outstanding mortgage amount and term and we’ll then search our mortgage range to present you with the most applicable deals. You can filter this list to help find the best product for you.

Find a remortgage deal

6. Apply for your remortgage

When you’ve obtained a successful Approval in Principle and have found a suitable remortgage deal, you’re ready for the full application process. You can apply online, or if you need advice, over the phone. The application will allow us to take some further details about you and your remortgage needs plus we’ll arrange a valuation of your current property. You should refer to our information on mortgage fees and charges before beginning an application.

Call us or book an appointment

Speak to one of our friendly mortgage advisers about your options.

Request an appointment

0345 166 9510*

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