When are first mortgage/bill payments taken?

[BeanieBops]

We are in the process of buying, our seller is cash buying so ready to move into his new place. We are currently in the middle of conveyancing searches and our survey is booked for 7th September. Selfishly, we are hoping that we don't complete until at least October as financially we will be in a better position then.

We have budgeted that the month we move we will immediately pay bills and mortgage, but not sure if this is correct.
When is the first mortgage payment/set of bills usually payed? Is it normally the same month or a month after move date. e.g. we move the 20th September but bills won't be charged until 20th October? Or move 20th but first payment taken on 30th September? Hope this post make sense.

You're responsible for the bills from whenever you complete. Usually you/they will do a meter reading for the electricity, gas, water, whatever on the day of completion and then call the appropriate companies so they can do a final bill for the seller and open accounts for you. It's at that point that you will set what day of the month your bill is paid. Usually you can shift it to after payday, although I think it would be unlikely that you could go over a month ahead. If you moved on 20th and bills were 27th, say, then presumably the first month would be a small payment anyway.

As far as the mortgage goes, I think the first payment will be the next month, but you're best to check with the bank as it might vary from one to another.

If you haven't actually set exchange/completion dates yet then I wouldn't hold your breath for moving in September. Do you know if the chain extends above your seller? He might be ready to move, but there can be all sorts of other complications.

Thanks. I'm just finding it confusing to know how much to set aside for bills for the first month, if we move in mid way through a month. The seller is moving into a vacant house, so no chain there.

If your survey isn't until the 7th September, it won't leave you much time to sort resulting enquiries and things and get it all sorted in September, especially given the stamp duty holiday will make everyone manic... so you'll probably be okay for October, if that's acceptable to your seller too.

When we moved in here, we didn't pay the mortgage in the first month but had a 7 week payment to make in the second. Bills you'll owe from the day that you move in, so you'll either get a monthly or quarterly bill as normal.

My mortgage payment is in advance but for most lenders you pay it in arrears. Best to check with your lender. I think I found it was building societies that went with in advance and banks that went with arrears. Hope this helps.

@incywincyspiders

My mortgage payment is in advance but for most lenders you pay it in arrears. Best to check with your lender. I think I found it was building societies that went with in advance and banks that went with arrears. Hope this helps.

We've had mortgages with two different banks and they've both been paid in advance. I've never heard of mortgages being paid in arrears.

Your first mortgage payment will be on whatever date you choose, and should be the cost from the day you move in, to your payment date, plus a month, so it'll be a larger bill than normal. The next month would be your regular payment, in advance.

OP are you aware of the stamp duty holiday? I think it is unfair to delay things when others will then have to fork out a further £2.5k if you do not complete in September.

As for bills it's hard to say.. council tax takes a while to sort out in my town. Gas & electric, water etc needs to be paid pretty quickly unless you are doing gas & electric every quarter. Also your first monthly payment can be considerable higher for your mortgage. My new mortgage is £1k per month but first payment will be £1.6k. I'd mentally set aside the money so you have it for the first month. Whether the bills come out straight away or the next month you will still need to pay for the 2 weeks of that month, you won't just be let off.

If your survey isn't until the 7th Sept I'd say it's nigh impossible that you will move in September, and maybe not October depending on the rest of the chain.

We completed last June mid-month and paid our first mortgage payment at the beginning of August, so we had 6 weeks to pay. After that it's the first week of the month as normal every time. Our mortgage lender let us choose when in the month our payment would come out so we picked a few days after we were both paid.

We took meter readings on the day of completion and then set up the rest of the bills within the next week or two and they were just paid monthly or quarterly as normal.

DD and her partner completed on their new house on 23 July, and their first mortgage payment came out on 6 August. It was a bit higher than the normal monthly payment but not massively so. The next one is due 3 September. I think they've picked to pay early in the month, as they both get paid the end of the month.

With other bills, like utilities, Council Tax, it is much more flexible. I know it is a bit naughty, but just delay registering with the Council, water and energy suppliers for 2-3 weeks after you move in. Honestly it'll be fine. You will probably find that the council take so long to get their act together that you won't get the bill until you've been there 2-3 months anyway. Then you will find you're paying higher payments for the rest of the financial year, to catch up. It will go to a normal amount per month from next April. Don't forget to tell your previous council you've moved though! Oh and if there was any overlap of properties and there was some time where you were the owner or tenant of two properties at the same time and one was unfurnished for a while it is worth telling them that, as you often get a discount for unfurnished properties at least in the short term.

For energy suppliers just tell them you want quarterly bills as pps suggest, the bill obviously won't arrive for a long while. You can always decide to swap to monthly Direct Debit later. Again, don''t forget to tell previous suppliers you've moved out and give the readings. It's possible you may be due for a refund.

I have just checked. We moved earlier this year and our 1st mortgage payment came out 4 weeks after we completed, and was about 10% higher than our normal payment. Bills varied but most were 4-5 weeks after moving.

@Peanutsandchilli as everyone else on this thread has already confirmed that their first payment comes out around four weeks after completion, I just assumed that this meant it was in arrears. Do you pay 8 weeks in one go then?

For most mortgage providers, you can usually specify the day of the month you want to pay, and depending on when you complete your purchase, it or may not happen immediately.

Last property I bought completed on a 30 June of that year. I'd asked for payments to be taken on day 1 of each month. As it was going by direct debit, there wasn't time for the bank to sort this for July, so happy days, nothing to pay in July...but they then charged 2 lots in August to catch up! I've never heard of paying a mortgage in arrears.

You'd be best off going for a mid month completion, if you want payments at the start of the month to begin in the next available month.

We moved on 1st Feb and our first mortgage payment was 3rd March. I think our bills were the following month but I'm not sure. We were more surprised by the mortgage because the usual payment was due 2 days after we moved and we just assumed it would go out.