What is a mortgage offer and how long does it last?

A mortgage offer is the formal, written document a lender issues once they have fully assessed your application and agreed to lend. It sets out the loan amount, rate, term and any conditions attached, and it is usually valid for a limited period, often around 3 to 6 months depending on the lender, within which your legal work and completion need to take place.

What does a mortgage offer contain?

A mortgage offer typically sets out:

• The amount being lent and the property it relates to.
• The interest rate and how long any fixed or tracker period lasts.
• The mortgage term, meaning how long you have to repay it.
• Any conditions that still need to be satisfied before completion, sometimes called special conditions.
• The date by which completion needs to happen for the offer to remain valid.

It is worth reading the offer carefully rather than assuming it matches exactly what was discussed earlier in the process, since underwriting sometimes changes small details from an earlier decision in principle. If you are unsure about anything in it, your broker or the documents you gathered earlier in the process are a useful reference point for checking the figures match what you expected.

How is a mortgage offer different from a decision in principle?

A decision in principle gives you an early sense of what might be possible, but only the formal mortgage offer is the lender’s actual commitment, and even then it is usually subject to conditions being met.

How long does a mortgage offer last?

Most mortgage offers are valid for a set period from the date they are issued, commonly somewhere in the region of 3 to 6 months, though this varies by lender and is not fixed across the market. This window is designed to give enough time for the legal work, including your solicitor’s checks and, where relevant, the seller’s side of things, to be completed. If your remortgage is taking longer than expected, for example because of a slow chain of legal work or extra checks on your credit file, it is worth asking your lender or broker how much time you have left on the offer well before it is due to expire.

What if you cannot complete before the offer expires?

If it looks like completion will not happen before your offer runs out, contact your lender or broker as early as possible. Some lenders can extend an offer, sometimes with a fresh review of your circumstances or a further check of your credit file, while others may require you to submit a new application if too much time has passed or if your circumstances have changed. Leaving this until the last minute reduces your options, so raising it early is worth doing even if you are not certain it will be a problem.

Can a mortgage offer be withdrawn?

Yes, in certain circumstances, even after it has been issued. This can happen if something material changes between the offer and completion, for example a significant change to your income, a new item appearing on your credit file, or a problem found during the legal work. Our guide on whether a mortgage offer can be withdrawn explains this in more detail. It is one reason it is worth avoiding new borrowing or missed payments between receiving your offer and completing.

What this means if you are remortgaging with adverse credit

If you already have a CCJ, defaults or another form of adverse credit, the period between receiving your mortgage offer and completing is worth taking particular care over. A few points worth keeping in mind:

• Avoid taking on new credit or missing a payment between the offer and completion. A lender can, in some circumstances, review your file again before completion, and a new issue at this stage is best avoided entirely.
• Ask about the offer’s validity period upfront, especially if your case has taken longer to arrange than a standard application, since self-employed or specialist adverse credit cases can sometimes take longer to reach offer stage.
• Keep in touch with your adviser through to completion, rather than assuming the process is finished once the offer arrives, since staying on top of any outstanding conditions reduces the risk of delays that eat into the offer’s validity.
• If you are close to your current deal ending, check how the timing lines up, since moving onto your lender’s standard variable rate while waiting for legal work to finish is something worth avoiding if a product transfer could bridge the gap instead.
• If a CCJ or default is due to change status soon, for example about to be satisfied or about to reach 6 years old, timing your application so the offer stage lines up with that change can sometimes work in your favour, though it is worth discussing with a specialist adviser rather than guessing.

Understanding what your mortgage offer actually promises, and by when, helps you manage the final stage of a remortgage with confidence, whatever is on your credit file. If you are ever unsure what a condition in your offer means, ask your lender, broker or solicitor to explain it in plain terms before signing anything.