Mortgage and protection guides.
Plain English guides written and reviewed by the Major Money Matters adviser team. Updated when the rules change, not when the calendar turns.
51 guides covering the questions a typical UK mortgage and protection client asks across a property lifecycle. Most are a five to ten minute read. Grouped into four clusters: buying, remortgaging, buy-to-let and protection. Pick a cluster below for the lead guide in that area, or scroll past for the full directory grouped by topic.
Pick a topic
Four clusters covering the full mortgage and protection lifecycle.
Buying
First home, deposits, the application process, surveys, conveyancing, exchange and completion, stamp duty. Thirteen guides covering the whole purchase journey.
Browse buying guidesRemortgaging
When to start, switching versus product transfer, what it really costs, releasing equity, debt consolidation. Five guides for the next deal.
Browse remortgaging guidesBuy-to-let
Becoming a landlord, the buy-to-let tax position, Section 24, rental yield and HMO licensing. Five guides on how the numbers stack up now.
Browse buy-to-let guidesProtection
Protecting the mortgage and the family, sizing life cover, critical illness versus income protection, self-employed cover. Five guides on what earns its keep.
Browse protection guidesBrowse the full directory
All 51 guides, grouped by topic.
Buying
The complete guide to buying your first home
Every step, every cost, every decision from "maybe one day" to collecting keys.
Read guideThe mortgage application process explained
From AIP through underwriting to mortgage offer. What happens at each stage.
Read guideHow much can I borrow?
Realistic ranges, what stretches your number and what shrinks it.
Read guideStamp Duty: the complete guide
Rates, reliefs, the 5% additional-property surcharge, plus worked examples for typical purchase sizes.
Read guideFirst-time buyer deposit guide
5%, 10%, 15%, 25%. What each deposit unlocks and where the cliff edges are.
Read guideUnderstanding different mortgage types
Repayment vs interest-only, fixed vs variable, tracker, discount, offset.
Read guideFixed vs variable rate mortgages
Which makes sense in the current rate environment, and how to think about the choice.
Read guideSurveys and valuations
Mortgage valuation, homebuyer report, full structural. What each is for.
Read guideThe conveyancing process
The legal side of buying a home, from instructing a solicitor to exchange. What it costs and how long it takes.
Read guideExchange and completion
What happens on each day, and what to have ready.
Read guideMortgage fees explained
Product fees, booking fees and the legal fees that come with completion.
Read guideThe true cost of moving home
Hidden costs people forget when budgeting for a move.
Read guideWhat does a mortgage broker do?
A plain-English explainer of what we actually do for you.
Read guideReleasing equity from your home
Home improvements, gifted deposits, debt clearance, investment.
Read guidePorting your mortgage: how it really works
Taking your current rate with you when you move sounds simple. The mechanics are more involved: a fresh application, possible top-up borrowing, and timing that needs managing.
Read guideLeasehold vs freehold: what buyers need to know
The difference between owning a property and owning a long, expensive ticket to live in one. Lease length, ground rent, service charges, and the reforms changing the rules.
Read guideGifted deposit rules: the bank of mum and dad, done properly
Who can gift, what the gift letter must say, the evidence lenders demand, and the tax questions givers should ask before the money moves.
Read guideGazumping and gazundering: how to protect yourself
Until exchange, nothing is binding, and both buyers and sellers can exploit that. What each tactic is, why it's legal, and the practical defences that actually work.
Read guideMortgage options by deposit size
From 5% to 40%, your deposit decides which lenders, rates and products are open to you. A band-by-band tour of the 2026 market, plus the routes below 5%.
Read guideJapanese knotweed and mortgages
It's no longer the automatic mortgage-killer of legend, but it's not nothing either. How lenders treat knotweed in 2026, and what buyers and sellers should actually do.
Read guideThe new-build premium: what you're really paying for
New builds typically cost more than comparable second-hand homes. Sometimes that's worth it. Here's how the premium works, how lenders treat it, and how to buy new without overpaying.
Read guideShared ownership staircasing: buying more of your home
How increasing your share actually works, what each step costs, the newer 1% route, and how to decide whether staircasing is worth it for you.
Read guideBuying a home with friends or siblings
Two or three incomes buy a lot more house than one. Here's how joint ownership between non-partners actually works, and the legal document that makes or breaks it.
Read guideRight to Buy: a realistic guide
Buying your council home at a discount is still possible, but the discounts shrank sharply in late 2024 and the rules keep moving. Eligibility, the process, the mortgage, and the strings attached.
Read guideMoving home: port, new deal, or let-to-buy?
Three ways to handle the mortgage when you move. A plain-English comparison to get you oriented, with the full detail on our moving-home hub.
Read guideRemortgaging
The complete guide to remortgaging
When to start, how it works, what it costs, what to plan for.
Read guideWhen to start the remortgage process
Why six months out from expiry matters, and what happens if you leave it later.
Read guideSwitching lenders vs product transfer
When staying with your lender is the right move, and when it is not.
Read guideUsing a remortgage to consolidate debt
When it helps, when it hurts, and what to be careful of.
Read guideHelp to Buy (Wales Only) equity loan: your options as the interest starts
The interest-free years end at year five, and the loan tracks your property's value, not what you borrowed. The four routes from here, and how the redemption process actually works.
Read guideBridging loan or remortgage: which fits the job?
Both put money in your hands against property you own. One is cheap and steady, the other fast and expensive. Choosing wrong in either direction costs real money.
Read guideBuy-to-let
Becoming a landlord: the complete guide
First buy-to-let purchase from deposit and tax structure through to letting the property out.
Read guideBuy-to-let tax guide
What you pay and how personal vs limited company ownership differ.
Read guideSection 24: what landlords need to know
The mortgage-interest tax change and how to respond.
Read guideUnderstanding rental yield
Gross vs net, and what good looks like for residential buy-to-let in the current rate environment.
Read guideHMO licensing
What you need to know before buying a House in Multiple Occupation.
Read guideEPC rules for landlords: where things stand
The legal minimum today, the tightening standards on the horizon, what actually moves a rating, and how energy performance now feeds into buy-to-let mortgages.
Read guideRent-to-rent: why we urge caution
The "guaranteed rent" pitch is everywhere on social media. Here's how rent-to-rent actually works, where the risk really sits, and the questions to ask before anyone signs anything.
Read guideProtection
Protecting your mortgage and family
The four protection products most families need.
Read guideCritical illness vs income protection
Two misunderstood products, compared side by side.
Read guideHow much life insurance do I need?
Working out the right cover size for your mortgage and family.
Read guideFamily protection planning
Building a coherent protection plan for a young family.
Read guideInsurance for the self-employed
Why self-employed workers need income protection most, and which policy structures actually work.
Read guideOther guides
Self-employed mortgages
SA302s, company accounts, averaging income, retained profits.
Read guideBridging loans explained
When bridging works, what it costs, and the exit strategy.
Read guideLater life mortgages, a guide
Retirement interest-only, equity release and mainstream later-life lending, compared and explained.
Read guideMortgage declined: what to do next
A decline feels final. It almost never is. Here's why applications get refused, what to do in the first week, and how declined cases usually get placed somewhere better.
Read guideHow to improve your credit score for a mortgage
What lenders actually look at (it isn't the number on the app), the quick wins that work in weeks, and the 6-12 month plan that genuinely changes outcomes.
Read guideMortgage age limits: how old is too old?
Older than most people think. The two age caps lenders actually use, how retirement income is assessed, and the routes open to borrowers in their 50s, 60s and beyond.
Read guideDivorce and your mortgage: the practical guide
Who pays, who stays, and how to untangle a joint mortgage without wrecking anyone's credit file. The three main routes and the traps inside each.
Read guideMortgage overpayments: a practical guide
Paying a little more than you must is one of the most reliable financial moves available, when it's done inside the rules and in the right order. Allowances, ERCs, and the term-vs-payment choice explained.
Read guideLooking for a quick definition?
The Major Money Matters glossary collects the abbreviations and concepts that come up in a mortgage or protection conversation. Short, plain-English definitions for AIP, LTV, ERC, ICR, SDLT, JBSP, MUFB, SPV, HMO and the rest.
Read first, decide later
Guides written by people who place the cases
No jargon, no padding, no sales pitch. Each guide answers the questions clients actually ask us, in plain English you can read with a cup of tea.
Common questions about our guides
Are these guides up to date?
Yes. We update each guide when the rules change, when product structures shift in the market, or when a question we get asked a lot has moved on. The 2026 stamp duty bands and the 5% additional-property surcharge are reflected throughout.
Who writes these?
Our advisers. Mark Potter, Oliver Potter, Billy Drury and Ollie Allen between them write or review every guide on the site. Major Money Matters Ltd is an appointed representative of Sesame Ltd.
Can I rely on a guide for a specific case?
Use a guide as scaffolding, not as advice. The actual answer for your case depends on lender criteria as they stand today, your full financial picture, and details a guide cannot know. Read the guide, then book a call.
Why do you cover protection in such depth?
Because most brokers do not. A mortgage without protection is half a recommendation. We treat the protection conversation as part of the same advice job as the mortgage, not as an afterthought.
I cannot find a guide on the topic I need.
Tell us. Email info@majormoneymatters.co.uk with a one-line subject and we will either point you to an existing guide that covers it from a different angle, or write a new one if it is the kind of question we are getting asked a lot.
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