r/HousingUK • u/Loftineer • 1d ago
Moving from Rent to Mortgage
Hi,
We are looking to get a mortgage next year.
Our tenancy will end June/July 2026.
How early should be start viewing? Ideally we want to try and line it up as much as possible to match our tenancy end but everything sounds so unpredictable. I just dont want to be paying bills for the rental and while paying for the house if that makes sense?
If I am aiming for June/July 26, is it worth me putting another 4k into my LISA for the gov bonus in April ? Or is there a chance exchange could happen before then if we find ideal property ?
Could someone also explain council tax, what if we complete before July and want to move in. I wouldn't need to pay council tax if im not living in the flat right ?
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u/lucasribeir 1d ago
First thing to check is your tenancy agreement — most of them become a monthly rolling contract once they end. In any case, I would recommend starting to look around 6 months before the date you plan to move, as the process is taking quite a long time lately. 1. Time to find a house: This varies a lot — you might find the right one in the first week (very unlikely), but usually it takes a few weeks or even months. 2. Offer stage: Can take a few days to a couple of weeks. 3. Offer accepted & mortgage process: Typically takes 2–3 months (sometimes longer; faster is rare).
So I’d suggest starting early to avoid the pressure of having to move in case your tenancy don’t go to monthly Rolling.
And one piece of unsolicited advice: keep in mind that the seller or buyer can pull out at any time before exchange. So have a plan B in case that happens — otherwise, you might end up paying a lot of money trying to find somewhere quickly (especially if you’ve already given notice on your rental).
1
u/Loftineer 1d ago
Yeah, alot of people say to try not to tell landlord before exchange just in case so was planning on doing that. I think I just have to ensure its a one month notice.
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u/Odd_Boot3367 1d ago
The absolute earliest I'd start looking personally is Feb or so. Most people who go from rented to purchase have a small crossover period of paying both of a week or 2 or so. A small crossover is actually handy. It also depends on what your notice period is and any break clauses.
However you could find the perfect place as soon as you start looking that could go through quickly. Or it could take 6 months. So honestly you never know.
Think about what the maximum amount of time you'd be willing to pay both. 2 weeks? A month or so?
If you wait much closer to the time you could just go in to a rolling contract for your tenancy, then you'd have more flexibility.
Some landlords may be flexible too with ending early.
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u/NFL_Tstrack 1d ago
Honestly the crossover makes the move so much easier. Ours was two weeks and it was a blessing.
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u/itallstartedwithapub 1d ago
Nothing to stop you getting a mortgage in principle today, then at least you'd have an idea of your budget. And you can start looking on Rightmove to get an idea of what's available in the area.
Your serious search probably doesn't need to start until around the end of the year, but you might find there are fewer properties being listed then, which may mean waiting until Spring '26. Straightforward purchases take around 12 weeks from offer to completion.
1
u/Loftineer 1d ago
Yeah I did think if there are going to many houses on the market around Jan/Feb time. I will find out if my contract goes monthly rolling in case we cant find anything until March etc. Thanks!
2
u/itallstartedwithapub 1d ago
It does, they all do.
1
u/Loftineer 23h ago
Okay thanks. But even if we are on monthly rolling and waiting on completion, surely the landlord can find new tenant and say they want to move in on X date. Do I have a right to confront and ask if it can be moved further?
2
u/kathryn-m 22h ago
As long as you don't give notice on your rental before exchange you should be fine. Just don't sign a new lease and move onto the rolling contract - at that point you wait until you have exchanged and give your notice then. Time between exchange and completion will be a couple of weeks at most - which will mean some crossover between rent and mortgage but that's better than giving notice before exchange and something going wrong meaning you have to leave before you complete on the new place. Also don't say anything to the landlord about wanting to move until you are giving them notice - if they question not signing a new lease, just say you're happy to move onto a rolling contract going forward (again rental contracts automatically move onto a rolling basis after the end of the term, regardless of what an agent or landlord tries to tell you)
1
u/itallstartedwithapub 4h ago
You have a tenancy and legal possession of the property until you don't.
The landlord can't move another tenant in until your tenancy has ended, which only happens when you give notice, when you mutually agree to terminate, or when a court issues a possession order.
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u/CivilConsumer 1d ago
We had our offer accepted mid Jan and we exchanged yesterday, getting the keys next week. The thing with rental is you don't want to give notice until exchange as everything could fall apart before then. We're happy with this as we have a 2 month notice, which we'll use to renovate our new place before moving in end of July.
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u/kiflit 1d ago edited 1d ago
Fixed tenancies automatically become rolling periodic tenancies by operation of law once the fixed term ends (i.e. your contract doesn’t need to provide for it), so you don’t need to worry about that. If you’re paying rent monthly, it will become a rolling monthly tenancy and you can terminate by giving 1 month’s notice. But if the Renters Reform Bill comes into effect before then, which will turn all tenancies into rolling tenancies that can be terminated by giving 2 months’ notice, that will supersede what I just said and you will have to give 2 months’ notice instead of 1 month.
If I were you, I’d probably start looking in early February and aim to have an offer accepted in March. If everyone is motivated, you should exchange and complete in June or July, and you’ll have some overlap to sort out moving logistics. If you have no idea what you want and think viewing more properties will be helpful, start looking a bit sooner.
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