Delay start of mortgage?

[ShiftyLookingBadger]

I don't know whether this is a thing or not. I would of course talk to my mortgage company but wanted to test the water before getting put in a telephone queue!

We're looking at purchasing a New Build home that may not be ready for several months. The only problem is, we can only reserve the property once we are ready to exchange, that includes a buyer for our current home and any other chain baggage. Once we reserve the property we have to exchange within 28 days. Stupid rules if you ask me!! (But house is a beaut!)

If we exchange so early on without a house to move into we would need to rent for a few months. So finally coming to my question... Once you exchange do you have to start mortgage payments straight away or can you delay for months until you move in? Of course, we can't afford mortgage and rent payments. Is this a thing or would we have to just squeeze our family of 4 (including toddler and newborn) + 2 big dogs into my MILs tiny house? (REALLY REALLY REALLY do not want to do this for months. I think we'd all fall out very quickly indeed).

Thanks!

With a new build you exchange v early but you don't start paying mortgage until you move in! So you will be fine :)

You don't get the money from the bank until completion - so there are no repayments required until then.

You complete when the property is legally transferred to you and you can move in.

You don't pay for the house until you complete on the sale. An exchange is a legal promise to buy. So no, you wouldn't have to make any mortgage payments. You won't have yet borrowed the money.

Money only lent on completion so mortgage starts then. However when applying for your mortgage make sure they are aware because mortgage offers generally only ladt 3 months and you have to apply to extend the offer. Sometimes if the rates have changed or their policies have changed they won't extend and you will have to apply for a different product

You will however need to be sure that your mortgage offer is valid for long enough that it will actually be still valid on the date of completion!

X-post with pp

Thank you all! That is very reassuring news