Builder offering to pay our mortgage for a year if we complete without selling... would you risk it?

[Orinoco]

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There's a reason they're offering it and it isn't the goodness of their hearts. They think things will be even worse in a years time. Are they offering to pay it up front? Doubt it. And even if they did, it may well be worth less next year and the year after.

And if you can't sell nwo there's no guarantee that you'll be able to in a year. I wouldn't go for it.

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Don't do it. You may not have any equity left in your home in a year's time - or certainly not as much - which will make it a liability when you come to remortgage. They realise that which is why they won't part exchange. If you really like the new house, try to sell yours and then put in an offer based on what you get - unlikely anyone is going to snap their one up in the meantime.

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It would be better to reduce yours by another 15% to get it sold and then knock that off the price you pay for the dream house ie £425k
As the others said things aren't going to improve in 12 months.

I would not do this.

If the builder goes belly up you will be unable to enforce the agreement and be left with two mortgages to pay.

Also, having a second mortgage without the consent of both mortgage providers puts you in breach of both mortgages.

Further, the second mortgage provider has to be told about the deal and is likely to change (ie reduce) your mortgage offer because it would belive that the deal was an incentive designed to keep the sale price artificially high.

hmmm....I may be being a bit dim, but if you own two houses, don't you have to pay capital gains tax when you sell one? or when you sell a second home - which if you move into new house, will existing house be liable for CGT when you do eventually sell?

Don't get sucked in to doing a deal. NO-ONE is going to do you a favour here - it's business.

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THe CGT rules permit a period of overlap provided both houses were main private residence (ie niether were commercially let) so it is not usually an issue.