Loan to pay stamp duty

[JSBNYC]

We have made a bit of a mistake in our timings. We have found a house and are moving towards exchange etc. We have enough in the bank to pay the deposit, solicitor fees etc. However, without selling our flat ( it is on the market) we won't have enough money for stamp duty ( around 23,000). Grateful for advice on what to di here. Get a bridging loan? Remortgage the flat? Any other options?

You need to be careful with applying for any kind of loan once you have had a mortgage offer. If you get a loan between the mortgage offer and completion you will change your credit status and affordability calculation etc. When the mortgage lender does the final credit check prior to completion, people have been turned down for their mortgage due to the new borrowing. So whatever you do discuss it with your lender first and make sure you have their approval.

Bridging loans are expensive and intended to be a short-term funding option. How likely is your current house to sell in the very near future so you can repay the bridging loan? We added our stamp duty to the mortgage and borrowed accordingly. However, we had a relatively low LTV in the first place so the extra borrowing didn't change our APR or borrowing terms so you'd need to find out from your lender whether extra borrowing would cost you more.

Once we have the mortgage offers- can we add to it?

I think you'd have to re-do your paperwork to add to your mortgage. I think your best bet is to call your mortgage lender ASAP and ask them what they can do. Like comtesse said, if you go to another lender then you could get yourself in trouble in terms of your mortgage provider not being happy with your increased debt. Definitely also look at re-mortgaging your flat assuming you won't have to ay penalties for remortgaging early etc.

Alternatively, is there any chance a family member span offer you a short term loan? I ended up having to borrow £10k from family to complete on our house. I was v nervous about asking and thought they wouldn't be able to help but they were happy to.

Good luck.