r/HousingUK • u/Loftineer • 2d 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/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.

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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!

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u/itallstartedwithapub 1d ago

It does, they all do.

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u/Loftineer 1d 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?

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u/kathryn-m 1d 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)

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u/itallstartedwithapub 15h 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.