Porting your mortgage when you move
Take your existing rate to the new property and sidestep the early repayment charge. Porting is a new application, not a transfer, and the timing decides whether it works.
Porting means taking your current mortgage product, the rate and its terms, to a new property when you move. Most mortgages are portable on paper. In practice porting is a brand new application: the lender re-tests your affordability, values the new property, and decides on current criteria, not the criteria that applied when you first borrowed. Done well, porting saves the early repayment charge on a mid-fix move and keeps a rate you could not get today. Done badly, it stalls a chain. We run the porting route against a clean switch to a new lender before recommending either.
Who this is for
- You are mid-way through a fixed rate and the early repayment charge makes moving look expensive.
- Your current rate is lower than anything on the market today and you want to keep it.
- You need to borrow more for the next property and want to know how a top-up works.
- Your lender says your mortgage is portable and you want to know what that actually means.
Porting moves your mortgage product to a new property. It does not move the loan automatically. The lender treats the move as a fresh application: full affordability assessment on your current income and commitments, a valuation on the new property, and a credit check. "Portable" in the product terms means the lender will consider it, not that they will say yes.
The early repayment charge maths
An early repayment charge (ERC) is the penalty for leaving a fixed or discounted deal before it ends, typically 1% to 5% of the balance depending on how far through the deal you are. On a £250,000 balance with a 3% ERC, breaking the deal costs £7,500. Porting the product to the new property, with sale and purchase completing together, typically avoids that charge entirely. That is the headline reason porting exists.
Porting with a top-up
Most movers need to borrow more, not the same. The ported amount stays on your existing rate. The extra borrowing goes on a new product from the same lender at current pricing. You end up with two sub-accounts, often with different end dates. We push to align the end dates where the lender range allows it, otherwise you face a future where one part of the mortgage is free to move and the other is locked, which weakens every future remortgage.
When sale and purchase do not complete on the same day
Many lenders allow a gap between redeeming the old mortgage and completing the new one. The common mechanic is that you pay the ERC at redemption and reclaim it if the ported purchase completes within a set window, commonly 30 days to six months depending on the lender. Criteria vary widely here and the refund is not automatic, so we confirm the window in writing before the chain commits to dates.
When porting is the wrong call
If your existing rate is higher than what the wider market offers today, porting preserves a deal not worth preserving. If the new property type sits outside your lender criteria, the port fails regardless of your finances. And occasionally a new lender deal beats the ported rate by enough to justify paying the ERC. We run all three checks on every case.
Common pitfalls we see
Assuming porting is automatic and finding out at full application that income changes since the original loan sink the affordability test. Borrowing less on the new property and getting hit with a partial ERC on the slice repaid. Agreeing completion dates before the lender confirms the porting window. Each of these is avoidable with a phone call made early enough.
How Major Money Matters helps
Specific things we do for this case type. No generic platitudes.
Run porting against a clean switch
We price the ported route, the new-lender route with the ERC included, and the product-transfer route side by side. You decide on numbers.
Structure the top-up properly
Extra borrowing goes on a second product. We align end dates where the lender allows it so your next remortgage is one decision, not two.
Time the application with the chain
Porting fails when the dates slip. We confirm the lender porting window in writing before you exchange, not after.
Re-route a declined port fast
If the lender declines the port, we move the case to the wider market with the ERC priced into the comparison. With over 65 lenders, there is nearly always a route.
Frequently asked questions
Can I port my mortgage to any property?
No. Porting is a new application and the new property must pass the lender valuation and criteria. Non-standard construction, some flats and some new builds can fail even when your finances are strong. We check the property profile against the lender before you offer.
Will I pay the early repayment charge if I port?
Usually not, if the sale and the ported purchase complete together. If there is a gap, many lenders charge the ERC and refund it when you complete within their window, commonly 30 days to six months. The rules vary by lender and we confirm them in writing first.
Can I borrow more when I port?
Yes, subject to affordability. The ported amount stays on your existing rate and the extra borrowing goes on a new product at current pricing, creating two parts to the mortgage. We structure the split so the end dates line up wherever the lender range allows.
What happens if my new home costs less than my current one?
The loan usually has to shrink, and most lenders apply a partial early repayment charge on the amount repaid. We model that cost before you commit, because on a large reduction it can change the decision.
What if the lender refuses to port my mortgage?
We take the case to the wider market. The comparison then includes the ERC as a known cost, and sometimes a sharper rate elsewhere still wins overall. A declined port is a detour, not a dead end.
Related
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Mid-fix and planning a move?
A quick 15-minute call puts the porting route and the clean switch side by side, with the early repayment charge priced in. You decide on numbers, not guesswork.
Named adviser, wherever possible. No call centre. We aim to return your call as quickly as we can. Mon to Fri 9am to 5pm, weekend appointments on request.